With increased importance in driving less & keeping cars on the road to a minimum, how are you doing your part

Question

As a sidenote, do you think the price of gas will be used as a tool to encourage less driving? What can we do to effectively encourage people to use personal automobiles less?

Answer 1

I think the price of gas is simply a product of greedy oil companies, that's it.  I'm just not going many places anymore!  Can't afford it!  My wife, though, walks with our two sons all over the place.  Luckily we live in the middle of town and they can go to stores and the library rather easily.

Answer 2

I worked out the numbers.

It made more sense for me to garage my SUV and buy a new electric car that can go 120 miles without a recharge and goes up to 45mph, perfect for tooling around town getting errands done.  With the price of gas, compared to the cost of electricity, I will break even in 2.6 years and dramatically reduce the amount of HCs and COx I put into the atmosphere.  The electric car will run for about 8 years without a change of batteries....when that happens, it will cost me about $4000 to run another 8 years.

I am also adding solar electric cells to my roof to produce power from the sun and to recharge me electric car.  This will additionally reduce the amount of HCs and COx I put into the atmosphere from my useage....this also will pay me in the long run by saving me up to $250,000 over the 30 year lifetime of the solar power station.

It now makes sense to be s**y and be an environmentalist... and it puts big bucks back in your pocket too!

Answer 3

I don't drive for recreation.  I still have to drive to and from work.

Carpooling is not an option as there is no one living near me who works near me.  I won't move just so I can carpool or have less of a drive to work.

I won't quit my job so I can carpool

Raising the price of gas only punishes the working man.  The rich will always be able to afford the gas for there gas guzzling luxury vehicles.

I'm amazed nobody is reporting about the greed of the big oil companies.  The price of a barrel of oil is about $10 less than it was a year ago but we are paying about the same for the gas.  Exxon just reported higher than expected earnings for the first quarter, imagine that.  Whenever the big oil companies want extra profits, they simply CREATE shortages and blame the consumer.  We need a windfall profit tax on the big oil companies, but this will never happen as they have grown way too powerful.  The widening gap between the top and bottom lines in the chart below prove my point..

It's not all about conserving fuel or saving the environment, it's all about money.

Answer 4

increased importance? what increased importance? CO2 emmisions, as i have said to people five hundred billion times and counting, is not effecting the climate. did you know that only 3% of all the CO2 in the whole atmosphere is anthropogenic (put there by humans)? and as for your second question, think about this: what about all the poor folks who won't be able to buy gas, and consequently wont be able to drive to work, thus not being able to feed their families? what will they do if we raise gas prices? no i don't think that's a good idea.

Answer 5

Since I don't agree that it important to drive less or to keep cars on the road to a minimum, I am doing nothing.  I am, however, doing my part to preserve the freedom of mobility we enjoy by opposing any and all additional transportation taxes.