I just got back from my exciting sunday night drive to go fill my car up with gas. 10.083 gallons at 1.99 a gallon. Twenty bucks and some change. Not that bad, considering that I got 345 miles that tank. That’s a bit high (by about 10 miles or so) from my normal mileage, but 34 miles to the gallon isn’t anything to scoff at. Which is just another reason why I’m not that upset by the current gas prices.
Yes, I know, raising the price of something that many of us take for granted or as a right of existence is sacrilege in a society where the predominant urban travel device is powered by oil, and where there is no cost-efficient trans-urban/state/city/province/you get the point transportation setup. Unlike myself, most are rallying around this like colonists revolting against the British. The Shrub has actually used it to divert attention away from the disaster that is our occupation of Iraq, which is amazing. I guess what we have here is a real national issue. Screw
the civil rights of homosexuals, we’re paying 2 bucks a gallon!
Besides the general disdain I have for people valuing this over more important issues, I welcome this for environmental reasons. It comes down to basic economics. No one is ever going to pursue viable alternative energy methods of fueling transportation if it isn’t demanded by consumers en masse. And why would the average consumer demand it? Moral consciousness of their effects on our own habitats? Not to sound cynical, but we’ve thus far proven that motivation to not be the most inspiring to the unwashed masses (I’ve always wanted to use that phrase). So finally they’re getting it. And they’re getting it where it hurts, right in their wallet, the most sensitive part of any modern American (including yours truly).
So now that we’ve got people paying 40 dollars to fill up their SUV (or my father’s truck), we’re having some people talk about how great the hybrids are. And they aren’t just talking about Toyota’s gadget ridden Prius. They’re talking about the small, affordable Civic. Or the (non-hybrid, but still awesome) Volkswagen TDI engine powered cars. What we need now is a company to push the envelope and present a cheaply produced, easily scalable alternative energy source. One that’s cheap, like 40 cents to the gallon. Made out of naturally occuring materials, like vegetables or grass or something. Maybe we could call it Biodiesel.
Oh wait. That already exists. And
you can make your own Bio-diesel! Man. What a wacky idea. Hell, for the lazy, there already pump sites in Europe, so we can have them here too! And why has this taken off in Europe already, with
the Audi A2 getting 78 miles/gallon? Well, gas prices there can be up to 3 times as much, and in 1996 it was
up to nearly 6 dollars in some areas. Talk about a real problem. So what did those crafty Europeans do? They began to switch to other kinds of fuels. And they did so in earnest, not just to placate some fly by night environmentalists.
I guess my point is that we have to look at these rising gas prices as a good thing™. This is what will push the next wave of fuel technology innovations, not flacid government support. Look at it this way: Everytime you’re shelling out 2 bucks a gallon at the pump, make sure that someone knows about it. People that should know include your Senator, your local representatives, your Governor, your President, and the gas company. A couple emails, handwritten letters or phonecalls aren’t too hard to do. Trust me, I used to convince old ladies in New Jersey to do the same thing.
related reads
Where does your gas money go?
justinª