Driving to cheapest gas-worth it?

In past posts, I’ve shared with you how you can find the gas station with the cheapest prices in your area– but is it really worth the drive? Enery Jeffreys, in writing about this topic at the Around Central Florida blog has a different perspective on all this- including info about “a slick site that helps determine if is worth the drive to save a few pennies.” The site is called Gas Edge of Saddle River, New Jersey, created by Mark Roth, an Internet Marketer.

About Emery- He as about 30 years experience as a writer and editor — including serving as a reporter and editor at United Press International.

New pump-less-gas linkedin group

Ever heard of linkedin? If not, you should check it out! Linked in is a great way to network with other people, connect with people you don’t know directly, get answers to questions and much more.

You should also know that I just created a special Pump-Less-Gas linked in group where people in the linked in community can exchange ideas and information. You can find the new group here- LinkedIn Pump-Less-Gas group.

Obama Tire Guage Energy Plan

Barack Obama just suggested that Americans can help conserve energy by inflating their tires. The McCain campaign is making a bit of a joke from this suggestion. In fact, this morning the McCain campaign distributed tire pressure guages to reporers and emailed supporters offering them “Obama Energy Plan” tire pressure guages if they donate $25.

Is this whole tie pressure bit just a lot of hot air? Not really…although it won’t be a major solution to our energy problem, little things do help. Keeping tires inflated properly can improve gas mileage 3-4% resulting in a savings of about twelve cents a gallon, according to the overnment’sd website www.fueleconomy.gov

According to the Energy Information Administration, in the US we consume 9,286,000 barrels/day (390 million gallons/day) of gasoline. Three percent of that consumption is a savings of 11.7 million gallons a day. Here’s some interesting related stats:

Consumers would spend 46.8 million dollars less a day for gas (assuming $4 per gallon price)..so that’s 1.7 billion dollars a year less that consumers would be spending on gas that could be spent elsewhere in the economy! Interesting numbers…the fact is that we’re consuming so much oil that even a minor savings can mean a substantial dollar impact!

No, I think Obama’s point about inflating our tires was presented incorrectly (at least in tone) as a major solution to our problem, but it has a bigger dollar impact than many of us might think! Don’t these dollar numbers surprise you? Of course, to get 100% of Americans to inflate their tires (or do anything) is unrealistic..but even if half of the population did it, the impact could still be helpful.

Gore gas problem plan

If you follow any news, you’ve seen former Vice President Al Gore speak about Energy Independence with some specific ideas about it. Gore’s plan includes investments in solar, wind, and geothermal power. He calls for a promise to all coal and oil workers that they will have guaranteed jobs out in the sun and fresh air.His stand is one that why waste time and money on energy that will not ever decrease in price. Gore has chosen an opportune time to bring his proposals into the media spotlight.
The public is growing weary of all of the political posturing over the price of gas, but seeing zero substantial action coming from Capitol Hill. The most recent proposal from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would almost be humorous if it wasn’t such an obvious political stunt for the cameras. Releasing 10% of the reserves equates to about 70 million barrels.Many would love to see us use less fossil fuel for energy supply in our country. According to some expert, right now solar, wind and geothermal power are not reliable enough to supply enough power for our country.

What do you think??

Here’s a video of Al Gore speaking about his energy approach:

Scooter buying tips

Have you ever considered using a scooter sometimes to help reduce the amount of money you spend on gas?

According to dictionary.com, a scooter is “a child’s vehicle that typically has two wheels with a low footboard between them, is steered by a handlebar, and is propelled by pushing one foot against the ground while resting the other on the footboard.Also called motor scooter. a similar but larger and heavier vehicle for adults, having a saddlelike seat mounted on the footboard and being propelled by a motor.

Here’s some tips for buying a motor scooter:

1. Where will you drive it? Will you only be driving it locally or will you be driving on more high traffic roads? This will help you determine how fast you need the scooter to go.
2. How much weight do you plan to carry? Will you be the only person on the scooter or do you plan to take a passenger? You need to consider weight in order to check the specifications of what wieghts your scooter can carry.
3. Which scooter should I buy? Much of this is personal opinion. To help you check out some of the manufacturers, we’ve listed some of the manufaccturers with links to their sites.
4. Drive safe! Before you start driving, take a motorcycle driver training course even if it isn’t required by law.
5. Get insurance just like yu buy insurance for your car
6. Consider getting an alarm for your scooter to protect it from being stolen.

As part of my continuing series of buying tips, we’ll share other scooter buying tips in the future. As promised, here’s a list of links to scooter manufacturers:

Aprilia Scooters

Piaggio Scooters

Honda Scooters

Suzuki Scooters

Vespa Scooters

Schwinn Scooters

Yamaha Scooters

Bush says drill drill!

Should we drill more offshore or not? Some environmentalists say “no”. An increasing number of impoverished drivers say “yes! yes!” Bush recently responded to the “drill drill” movement. He’s increasing pressure on Congress to expand offshore oil exploration.

“The only thing now standing between the American people and the vast oil resources of the Outer Continental Shelf is action from the United States Congress,” he said. The case is being made that the that oil companies should drill in about 68 million acres of federal land they have already leased for such use — a move the Democrats say would nearly double U.S. production.

Other folks want Bush to to tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve — a stockpile set aside for emergencies — and work with Democrats to crack down on Wall Street traders who are driving up oil prices by buying huge quantities of oil just to resell at a higher price.

Personally, I think we shouldn’t put limits on commodity trading. If demand goes down, that will take care of the market! I’m a believer in the fact that eventually our free enterprise system will self-correct any situation instead of counting on our government “to fix everything.” What do you think?

For the whole Bush story, click here.

Health benefits of walking

If you walk instead of drive when you can, you won’t just save on gas, but your health can improve too!

If you want to live healthier longer, start now with daily walking or exercise. A study in the November 14, 2005 “Archives of Internal Medicine” showed that exercise levels directly related to years lived without cardiovascular disease. 30 Minutes of Walking a Day Adds 1.3 Healthy Years A moderate level of physical activity, such as walking 30 minutes a day, lengthened life by 1.3 years and added 1.1 more years without cardiovascular disease, compared with those with low activity levels.

Those who chose a high physical activity level gained 3.7 years of life and added 3.3 more years without cardiovascular disease. Invest a Little Time for a Better Future An editorial in the “Washington Post” did the math - invest 30 minutes of walking a day and you’ll spend 49 days of the next 12 years of your life walking to gain 1.3 healthy years.

Even One More Healthy Year is of Great Value If you hate exercise, imagine how much more you will hate surgery and all of the bottles of expensive pills you must take. Research Details Oscar H. Franco, M.D., Ph.D., of Erasmus M.C. University Medical Center Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and colleagues used data from the Framingham Heart Study, a study that has followed 5,209 residents of Framingham, Mass., over the past 46 years.

For the whole story click here

Air Force oil diet

As you might guess, the Air Force consumes a lot of oil. And just imagine what the increased price of gas has done to the Air Force’s monthly energy bill! The Air Force want to wean itself from foreign oil and nearly zero out its carbon dioxide output as part of a sweeping alternative energy drive, a senior Pentagon official said on Friday. By early 2011, the US Air Force aims to make sure its entire fleet of bombers, fighters, transports and other aircraft can use a domestically produced 50-50 blend of synthetic and petroleum-based fuel.

William Anderson, an assistant Air Force secretary, said the goal was to reduce energy demand, look for cleaner power sources and to reuse captured carbon commercially, for instance to enhance the growth of biofuels or improve oil well production.Anderson said the effort on synthetic jet fuel had been spurred by the 2006 challenge to the nation from President Bush to wean itself from its “addiction” to imported oil. Anderson said jet fuel from coal produced 1.8 times more carbon dioxide between production and consumption as jet fuel from oil, but he said most of that additional amount could be captured during production of the synthetic fuel. Coal was abundant in United States and renewable energy sources could not meet growing energy demands.

For the whole story, click here.

Here’s a related story…

Gore lays facts of climate change on the table
Gore Calls for US to Use Renewable Energy by 2018
»
by: David Stout, The New York Times

Gore lays facts of climate change on the table

Former Vice President Al Gore introduced an ambitious plan to rely completely on clean, renewable energy within the next decade.

Former Vice President Al Gore said on Thursday that Americans must abandon fossil fuels within a decade and rely on the sun, the winds and other environmentally friendly sources of electric power, or risk losing their national security as well as their creature comforts.

“The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk,” Mr. Gore said in a speech to an energy conference here. “The future of human civilization is at stake.”

Gas dip for drivers

Something happened today that I wondered if it would ever happen again…In case you missed this headline news item, oil fell below $130 per barrel today! That prompted a rally on Wall Street. In a related note, high prices seem to be driving demand down. U.S. drivers this month are driving 5% less than a year ago. So maybe the law of supply, demand, and prices really works– even when it comes to gas.

By the way, if you really want to follow gas price trends, let me recommend that you regularly check out our gas data center. We’ve put a great deal of work gathering sources of info and data to give you a comprehensive picture of gas price trends and related info. Our plans are to continually expand it. Visit our gas data center and you’ll find such information as:

* The cheapest gas price at your location!
* National price trends;
* Historical gas price trends; and,
* Gas pricing maps.

Watch Boone Pickens Plan

If you haven’t heard billionaire T Boone Pickens has taken out advertisements to promote a plan for energy independence. Here are some videos of Pickens:

Here’s a video of the Pickens plan:

Here’s a longer version of the plan:

Here’s Pickens on CNBC:

Next Page »