Why is this such a hot issue or contentious issue? Why is it "inherently political"? Energy reform and reducing our dependence on foriegn oil with various methods have been a platform for the past 8 presidents, both democrat and republican - so clearly there is plenty of common ground im sure.
I think its so contentious because the issue of "climate change" or "global warming" has become a very polarizing issue it appears. I think that porko's comments regarding "the two sides" likely relate to climate change. Instead, I would argue that we can all agree that oil and fossil fuels as a primary energy source is bad for plenty of good common sense reasons:
1) Gas price hikes and economic woes (the topic of this original post) - market voatility is always difficult
2) ever growing demand and limited supply - not entirely sure, but will we run out of oil one day?
3) drilling and harvesting the stuff is "dirty" to the environment - I didnt say global warming mind you - I mean oil spills in the ocean, on shores, strip minining, burning coal and negative effects on "air quality" which you can see smog with you own two eyes, no argument there I think.
4) reliance on foriegn oil hurts our national security
5) oh and my grandfather was a coal miner in west virginia his whole life, black lung, got really sick in his 70's and couldnt get around anymore - he died due to this....and plenty of folks have died in mining disasters, rig accidents such as horizon, and have gotten sick from working within the industry. Currently the saying is true though "its a dirty job, but someone has got to do it" - sad but true.
We can also agree I think that reducing our own fuel/energy usage is good simply to save ourselves the money. Take my car for example - if I drive 60mph instead of 75mph, I save about 10mpg's - @25,000 miles per year communte, that saves me 200 gallons @ 3 dollars per gallon avg for diesel, that saves me 600 dollars per year - and it only costs me about 3-4 minutes per day in time to save that money....if you break it down per day, that is 1.15 galons saved per day or $3.45 per day at the cost of 3-4 minutes - that is a savings of 51-69 dollars per hour. Notice how I havent mentioned that I am "saving the environment" - rather I think we can all agree that we all like having more money, and reducing our usage of oil is a pleasant side effect at the very least
And that is just ONE example on how we can save money. Another is changing your air filter regulary (~ 2mpg), driving with a less "heavy foot" (1-3mpg), and tire pressure - I have spent the last 2 weeks with my tire pressure a bit low (computer tells me when its below 34psi to air them up - fuel efficiency dropped by 3mpg!!
And I havent even gotten to recommendations that pertaint to choice of the actual vehicle you own - if you buy a hybrid and you used to drive a tahoe, you are going from 12mpg to 45mpg, HUGE savings there, or even if you get a ford focus, that is a jump to 28 or 30mpg - my diesel wagon gets 41 avg, 46-48 on hwy and it really is pretty spacious. I understand that some of the electric cars go 100-200 miles without using fuel, and that may only cost 1.50 per day in electricity costs!! The price tag for now is a bit high and hard to justify the purchase at this point, but depending on how much you drive you could actually save, but the price will come down later. In my case in my commute only in my diesel, if I were to use 1.50 per day in electricity (hydroelectric mind you) that would be 375 dollars per year, vs. I currently spend around 1800 per year in gas in my diesel - thats a huge difference and when these come down in price, I will seriously look into buying one - more money for fishing
Then there is saving in the home - all sorts of ways to save - im sure that we can all agree on that. Wont get into that, I have blabbered on too long already
When the likes of Bill O'riley AND Bill Maher can agree that "green/clean energy market" is a good thing to research and develop, that says alot - that says that there is plenty I think that we can all agree on I think
coombayah my lord, coombayah
If we could all agree and take action in order to save ourselves the money and energy costs, the problem would be greatly minimized at least, and then we could focus on using the good ol' American inginuity to develop more technologies to be used to help this issue and be a huge export for the US - its a win win.
As it relates to fishing, I simply drive my truck only to pull my truck and for the occasional moving of big stuff I buy, other than that I drive my car 99% of the time. I suppose the 4 strokes are more fuel efficient? Cant hurt to save some dough in this way too. Hadnt really thought about electric motors, but why not? If a car can drive 100 miles without a charge on the highway, then perhaps we can develop a good electric motor as an outboard? Something on the horizon perhaps, and it would probably save us a ton of money?
Ok, sorry for the longest post EVER, but I enjoy sharing my thoughts in case others are interested and I enjoy hearing others' points of view...
also, since we are facing higher gas prices, how bout others on here share some ideas for saving money in fuel/energy costs....that way we can all weather the storm better.
