Are High Gas Prices Good for the Environment

I have to laugh at Americans always complaining about the price of gas.

Petrol / Gas in teh USA is WAY cheaper than the UK. The cost of fuel does have a major impact when deciding which car to buy. Gas guzzlers are bought by that sector of the public that money doesn't influence their decisions.

My car does 55 miles to the gallon. It's a large family saloon with a 1.4 litre engine. 20 years ago the average fuel consumption was maybe 30 miles to the gallon but with fuel prices rising efficiency is now a much higher priority.

What is the average fuel consumption for your car?

Its a family van and it gets 21 mpg. The only cars that get better than that are too small. I want to see vans with better engines. What pisses me off is that they have the tech to build them.

umm.. that is incorrect baker. simply does not fit the facts..
Look harder for a van that uses less gas, because they Are easily available.

As of your impression that van are significantly safer.. I've had this discussion before, and people went nuts.. so I am Not going to say a thing other than suggest you look up the statistics and that when you do have have statistics infront of you, please take a moment to try to read them correctly.

I will be honest with you. We bought our van 2 yerars ago when gas was relitivly cheap. And like most others wern't too worried about mileage. I do remember looking at a couple of other vans, that were better on gas, but they really were not comforatble and they were about 9k more. I think it one was a Toyota. We will be looking much more closely next time. I am trying to convince my wife to buy a diesel as they are more fuel effiecent, or a hybrid, once they work out their problems. Without a doubt we will be weighing more of our options this time.

When I mention safety, I am mainly talking about the SUV vs. the compact car collisions. I know that vans are vunerable to side impacts and SUV's are top heavy.

the gas prices dont affect the enviorment its just the amount used, the
price doesnt affect how much people use it...but gas is not good for the
enviornment period.

But what if gas was 7$ /gal, wouldn't you have to consume less in order to aford to live on what you are making now?

rising gas prices could stimulate market forces to find alternate souces of fuel

but, most likely will draw more oil and bring prices down in the short term

so, no signifigant changes for the environment at this time

Actually, as the price of gas rises there will be a shift in fuel, but it will be toward coal the other fossil fuel.

Currently I believe that the government and energy corps are only paying lip service to the search for alterative fuels. Actually, so aren't the rest of us really.

Correct.

If this continues, more people will end up utilizing public transportation...IE...buses, trolleys, planes, taxis, etc.

On the other side, it's nothing more than supply and demand. The supply is getting cut down so the prices are going up. This will continue until we suck the earth dry of crude oil.

With the environment thing, it could help it, but it also depends on if the public begins to give in to the rising gas prices and resort to other means of travel.

well gas is a requirement for modern living and there is only so much you can cut back. im lucky that im never cold so i havent had to use my gas fired central heating in 2 years, i have a mains 7 water heater so it only heats the water i use i cant imagine how people cope living in a cold house were they have to use gas heating every day during winter.
previous goverments have just let us and the evironment down by not investing in renewable sources of energy so in the uk we are now left with nuclear power and dependency on importing gas.
i just despair are were it will end people complain about high petrol prices but the number of cars just carries on rising and we all want more and more consumer items.
maybe higher gas prices will make people look at gas usage but i doubt it

damn i should have read the post more carefully gas to americans = petrol

Don't worry m8. I know what you were talking about.

baker63 said "Actually, as the price of gas rises there will be a shift in fuel,
but it will be toward coal the other fossil fuel"

the new legislation in california rewards clean producers and dirty producer
have to buy polluter credits

this raises their production costs and motivates producers to find alternative
fuels that are cleaner (less green house gases, supher, carbon and such)

the reason for this is that in the past, the total/true cost of dirty fuel has not
been reflected in the price of a gallon of gas/petrol

one of those costs is pollution

which is usually paid for through taxes (not necessarily fuel taxes) or by the
individuals that suffer damages

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