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I filled up in Virginia Beach, VA this weekend for $3.20/gal. After reading the other posts on this thread I consider myself very fortunate!

BTW--There is a web site, GasBuddy.com , that lets you type in a zip code and shows you the lowest local prices. Very Helpful!!

Make that $4.94 a gallon (USD/CAD) here in Kanada.

The lowest I ever saw when I was but a young brat was $0.34 a gallon but that was a lonnnnng time ago

It was $3.97/gal 2 days ago but it's higher in San Francisco proper. Luckily my husband and I work from home, so no commute (and no traffic headaches.) I have been much more conscientious about combining errands and decreasing driving ever since last year when prices started to go up. We are contemplating replacing my 12-yr old Nisson sedan with a Prius.

There are many people around SF area who commute 1-1.5 hrs each way! I feel really bad for them, even before the rise in gas. Now it's so much worse. And this is not to mention food prices soaring too.

Mr.Hunky, in the Oct. 07 issue of National Geographic, there were some very informative articles on corn ethanol (E85). It turns out corn E85 isn't as much of a wonder solution as the media makes it sounds.

Part of the success in Brazil that is used as a talking point to promote E85 here is because in Brazil, they use sugar cane for E85. For every 1 unit of fossil fuel energy put in to produce sugar cane ethanol, 8 units of energy is produced(vs only 1.3 units energy output for corn ethanol.) The Greenhouse emission of production and use for sugar cane E85 (compared to gaoline) is 56% less. For corn ethanol, it is only 22% less. There is a lot more info in the article, e.g. land use issues, etc.

Anyway, I am very much a greenie liberal. But after being informed by the article, I have second thoughts about E85 being a major solution for us in the US.

I'm all for bio-diesel. My brother is a mechanic and thinking about going to Sweden (or maybe it was Switzerland or Norway, not really sure) to take a two week course on manufacturing bio-diesel. The big problem with where we live is that it tends to turn into a gel in the colder weather. Some say you can do a mix of regular diesel and bio to counteract that issue. I think my brother was telling me that the guy who invented the diesel engine (named Diesel) actually designed it for use with plant based fuels, but that the auto manufactures adapted it for use with petroleum instead, in the interest of oil companies. Not sure if this is true, though.

That is TRUE.

That's true, but it's my general impression that a lot of Europe is reasonably covered by public transportation...whereas only a small percentage of the geographic area of the U.S. is covered by any public transportation at all.

And it will take years and years before that gets caught up...if ever.

Every day on the news I hear the reporter say "highest gas prices in the nation are to be found in San Francisco". My car is supposed to take premium, but I've downgraded a notch; even so, the price is still well over $4.00.

I must drive from gig to gig - I'm on the road several hours every day, and must pay bridge tolls too...

I also notice a new trend - gas stations are charging for air! I have a slow leak in one tire, which equates to a slow leak in my wallet. :b:

The rise has a fundamental cause, called PEAK OIL. Easy to find oil is running out, or has already. It will get only worse, and surely ! So we better PREPARE !!
www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/
is a quite mild site about that. I know much more radical...

By the way, it seems to me most US-ians were much too willing/accepting of auto-commuting and dispersed living like "Desperate Housewives" ;-);-)
Us Europeans had compact cities started when cars weren't there ;-)

The typical popular Romanian-made car is the Dacia 1410 or newer Logan. Originally a copy of Renault 12, then upgraded, and again, in last 8 years with injection engine. Burns ~6-6.5 l / 100 km. Normal-sized to largish and underpowered (60 HP) for today's European cars, smaller than usual US monsters. Cost new $3500 a few years ago, the current version is 6000-8000. This is NOT the Tata Nano ;-)

... Still I don't forecast so expensive electricity for electronic keyboards to stop working so we remain only with acoustic instruments... back to 19th century !

In Milwaukee, I saw that start in the late 80's, I remember a buddy of mine (who had been going thru some tough times) exclaiming, "25 cents for air!!? Yes!! Now I can finally breathe!!”

I always smile a tad when I see news of Americans complaining about their gas prices. Now that you see what we pay in Europe I hope you understand why I think it is amusing

I can't blame you though, as it's human nature. I recently moved here to Spain from the Middle East (I'm originally from Sweden). In Saudi Arabia gas was about US$ 0.20 per liter. I later moved to the United Arab Emirates where the price 0.30. Well, that's 50% more expensive and I didn't like it The UAE then decided to raise it by 30% which didn't quite cause riots in the streets, but people where not happy.

I, for one, hope oil prices continue to rise! Our planet is sick people, and I'm afraid that nothing but a thin wallet will make us change our habits.

Don't be too quick to judge... I live in an area that has a higher population density than your city, Bucharest.

If I could take public transportation to all of my musical events, I would. Unfortunately I must carry a trunk load of heavy music scores everywhere I go. The time factor is also a consideration. Even by car, I barely have enough time to get from one venue to the next.

Do you often check the gas mileage? It's likely that you get a difference in mileages bigger than the difference in prices.

I don't think public transportation will ever reach the level of acceptance in the US that it has in other parts of the world. Both as a matter of geography and national mindset, Americans demand independent transportation. Even if that means driving golf carts to work.

BTW--I'm actually glad to see gas prices rising. It's inevitable that an alternative to gas guzzling autos will happen, and higher prices will make it happen sooner, and therefore less painfully.

When I posted this morning the prices were around 3.75 USD. I filled the tank in my Miata after work and it was 3.99. Pretty scary.

We have always had fairly fuel efficient cars because I've alway realized that we WILL run out of oil. Not in my lifetime certainly, but petroleum is not being replaced - not very fast anyway :-). In the middle 70s the US had a scare that made people start thinking of alternative enery sources and smaller cars but shortly after that there was an insane rush to gigantic vehicles with huge engines.

I hope we take it to heart this time and get busy.

We pay in the Netherlands this day:

€ 1,519 for one litre! :b: :b:

BTW......above all....we are many times in a traficjam in this crowded country.....

Update for SouthEast MI..$3.85

Please don't paint all Americans with the same brush: Public transportation would be wonderful, but out here in the wide open spaces of Nevada it's near non-existant. Towns are hundreds of miles apart, there's no bus service between. I'd LOVE to take public transport (or walk or bike) to work, but it's not an option. I live 9 miles (horizontal) and .25 miles (vertical) from work and the road is four lane highway, not safe for either. We were in Prague a few weeks ago, and I see how many Europeans can live easily without a car; public transport is available everywhere, inexpensive, and efficient. If only.

Corn & ethanol...that's a contributing factor to the rise in food prices. Farmers are able to get higher prices for the corn (good) and it's going to create a cleaner fuel (good). But that means there's less feed for cattle (bad) and it's more expensive (also bad). It's a start, but not a panacea. I can't even mention this thread around the house: husband sells commercial vehicles for GMC and is a certified master mechanic in alternative fuels. His blood pressure goes up with these kind of discussions as folks who don't have all the facts suggest things that aren't realistic.

BTW: gas is $3.83/gal. regular as of this morning in Reno.

Except for the pain to those families that cannot afford it, I'm with ya, bluekeys...

I am lucky in that the price is inconvienent, but does not really cause me to re-think what I buy or not. Some families are making very hard decisions, as gas is something they must buy to continue to work.

Some of us have become spoiled. My lovely bride DRIVES to the the gym. If gas was 20.00 a gal., she could walk, and not need the gym to begin with. Notice, I picked on her, with no mention of me.

Our zoning laws have "forced" us (OK, maybe allowed is more correct) to live away from our jobs, causing millions to be spent on roads to get back and forth.

I sometimes wonder, though, just where is everyone going ALL THE TIME. And, just a guess here, but I'm thinking 75% of the cars have one person in them.

Traffic is becoming an issue everywhere, and the price of fuel does not seem to be stemming the tide, so maybe it's still too cheap.

I'll chime in with a different perspective. I have no idea how much gas costs in Seattle. North of $3, I'm sure, but my bike doesn't use it, so it's not very relevant. I have a car, but I put about 500 miles on it last year. I'm seriously considering selling it.

I'm not trying to convert anyone, and I understand that bike commuting doesn't work for a lot of folks because they have to haul stuff, travel long distances, suffer from health issues (though some of those can be solved through exercise), or live in inhospitable climates. My wife has a car and drives it most days. For me, though, biking is pretty much the perfect solution year-round. I save the cost of parking, wear and tear on the car, gas, and a gym membership. All that savings last year made a substantial dent in the price of my grand piano!

He was right about the plant based fuel. Rudolph Diesel lived from 1858 - 1913, so corner gas stations weren't as plentiful as they are today. Early engines ran on all manner of liquids and gases. Diesel used peanut oil, but he was apparently also interested in the potential of using coal dust. Any oil, including the petroleum based stuff has an organic origin, so early inventors tended to start out using whatever was locally available or what they thought might give the best "bang for their buck" - i.e lamp oil or whatever.

I think that petroleum based fuels won out basically because they had widespread applications for heating, lighting, power etc and could provide an efficient range of products at a reasonable cost. Bio-diesel looks interesting, but I think it still has a way to go. There are still large environmental costs involved with growing it. Anti-petroleum, pro-bio enthusiasts tend to overlook (or not know) all the costs of turning over large areas of land from food production to fuel, using modern agriculture methods. It's a whole big can of worms in itself. Interesting stuff though.

When I first pumped gas as a job to help work through college it was less than 2 shillings a gallon. So about 19c US I guess. In Australia it's now somewhere around $1.40 per litre, which I suppose is between $5 and $6 US for a gallon.

I might have to get myself a steam car. (Not as outlandish as it sounds, one of my brothers recently rebuilt a steam car, and has a friend who built a steam powered motor bike. )

Cheers,

Chris