Well WS7, they put the tax on fuel here in PA so anyone filling up in PA pays for the roads and bridges. It is just like anyone that drives on the Turnpike pays for the upkeep of that road. I get more ticked off when the use the gas tax or turnpike fees for other things like building bike trails or to subsidize metro area bus services.
I haven’t seen it drop below $3.15 this year but I’m in Fairfield County. Everything costs a bit more in this part of the state. The average in CT is supposedly 2.99.
Why is it that Amazon wears our roads to shreds yet doesn’t pay for our infrastructure Spooner? I think these monopolies should have to pay their share.
In mid tn found gas $2.34
Here in western PA, regular gas is about $3.12. PA has one of the highest gas taxes in the nation. They increased it a while ago to the money could be used to improve our sorry ass roads and bridges. It's too bad that my area doesn't receive that much of the money.
"Saw 2.25 here. I drive more than most and I can definitely feel a difference in my bank account."
"Gas in Oklahoma this morning was $1.84 a gallon! When was the last time gas went under $2.00 a gallon?"
obviously i am driving in the wrong state...
US Retail Gas Price is at a current level of $3.024, down from $3.131 one year ago. This is a drop of 10.7 cents a gallon from one year ago. (Source: AAA and YCharts)
Since the average fuel consumption of US vehicles is around 25 mpg and the average person drives about 14,000 miles per year, that adds up to 560 gallons of gas used per year.
With a 10.7 cents per gallon drop, that means the average person in the US is saving around $60 per year or $5 per month.
Even if you use 10 times as much fuel as the average person, you might be saving $50 a month. Are you really able to “feel a difference” in your bank account for every $50 swing?
If so, how much have your groceries, utility bills and everything else you use gone up? Or do you only “feel a difference” when a certain someone claims to have benefited you?
~Scamp
Cheapest I've seen around here is $3.49
Saw 2.25 here. I drive more than most and I can definitely feel a difference in my bank account.
I bet they are because even in oil country their usage is going up double digit each year and as mayhem mentioned on efficiencies, ocean placements up 53%. The changes are and will take decades. Take the automobile. It started as a rich man's toy and took at least 50-70 yrs before car ownership peaked. That's why a short range view based on current conditions/technology is short sighted and frankly ridiculous to me. Our world is dramatically different than 50 yrs ago and the it will be dramatically different 50 yrs from now
I have no clue how long these blade last but I promise you one thing . If you go to Galveston Texas you see those blades coming and going everyday. . Our highways are plugged up with those things being hauled . They aren’t small.
Again, nobody claimed they were concerned about green energy. The only reason they were even mentioned is because, as a country, all of the energy they do have is considered green and renewable. The rest was you reading into something that was never actually written.
@someone - so can we get your source(s) on your claims referencing wind turbine blade life?
@someone - I also understand what cold weather does to batteries and the additional load of cold weather places on batteries.
Cold effects all energy sources. Gas and power generated power plants experience frozen instrumentation and sensing lines and cause other mechanical problems that reduce output. I respect you were talking about cars in your comments but the discussion was overall about clean vs dirty energy
@someone - Breaking: FORD scraps the F-150 Lighting EV, and will take a $20 billion write-off of all it spent on EV investments. "No one wants to buy them."
I never could figure out why Ford put so much effort into the F150 EV, particularly when the culture wars started up against EVs. Ask yourself who buys F150's(and 250s/350s and their ilk from the other manufacturers) and consider where they are in the culture war on EV's. Vehicles targeted for professionals would have been a better choice in my thinking. They are currently pivoting more to hybrid and smaller EVs and expect to grow from 17% to 50% of sales to be hybrid/EV by 2030. In my mind, they are accepting current realities and keeping an eye to the future with hybrids being a key middle step.
@someone - As I recall the mandates was for all vehicles to achieve 50+ miles per gallon and/or zero emissions, but I laughed at both. It was impossible with the current technologies.
All the naysayers back in 1975 said basically the same thing. At that time, fleet mpg was 12-14 mpg. It is currently between 25-30 mpg. Also factor in while the car companies claimed the only way was to build small vehicles, the market wanted bigger vehicles ie minvans, SUVs etc. So the achievements were made with larger vehicles. Bottom line - You have to aspire and attempt before anyone achieves anything and only considering the now, would never allow for progress to be made.
What I saw of the Tesla Model 2 was that they are using sodium ion batteries instead of lithium ion. Pros are that they are safer, less expensive, and can withstand 2 or more times as many charge/discharge cycles as lithium ion. The battery materials themselves are cheaper and much more readily available using local materials.
The main con is that they have about half the energy density, adding both weight and volume to size of the battery pack to get the same distance. Still, if this works reasonably well, it could make EVs more acceptable to more people. I think they were talking about an ~300 mile range. This would be more than adequate as a daily commuter/grocery getter.
Even without adding PV solar to my house, at this price point it's still an attractive option.
@someone - However, I do suggest and maintain that when one LIVES in Ethiopia "on the local economy" for a year, one gains an appreciation for the economic status, infrastructure, and standard of living, of the local population......
Geez I don't even have to go to Ethiopia to understand that Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world and approximately what those conditions are. Education does that for a person. I knew it before this conversation. I never suggested otherwise so just another creation you placed upon me.
@someone - It's stupid ass Americans, like yourself that believes the rest of the world enjoy a standard of living equivalent to the US......You believe people in Ethiopia share your liberal progressive concerns....
Once again another creation because I ask for your sources for your claims. You go on the attack, to feebly but with energy, throw smoke and mirrors as not one source, for any point given, has been provided. Instead 3 absolutely incorrect accusations about owcangrace that are always based in right wing conspiracy theories "Owcangrace is" 1) liberal, 2) knows NOTHING of Ethiopia even though you don't have to go there to understand where they are in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs 3) Spewing Green propaganda - I asked for sources and have not suggested, added or claimed anything on the topic simply trying to understand what you based your fervent arguments on.
That appears to be a hopeless thing to get an answer to. That is telling in itself and clearer by the post it is not based on anything but radical right media and politicians BS.
To be clear, I am down on the radical left too. Thing is radical right thinks anything that isn't their view is radical left and vice versa
I thought that the mandates were for "zero emmisions" and not specifically EVs? For now at least, that is the only viable way to meet that sort of mandate AFAIK unless a low-cost way can be found to produce hydrogen for fuel.
I might consider an electric vehicle if I can reasonably implement solar. Aside from the tax break going away, a large portion of the ROI has to do with how much labor costs are.
It was the same for my mini split, but I did most of the installation myself and that easily cut my costs in half. Most people don't have the skills needed to do either of these things. Also, labor for either of these projects is charged by the job, so they can hide the fact that they are getting paid a ridulous labor rate considering how much time either of these installations take.
At this point, I'd think that most of the people willing to go with an electric vehicle already own one. For a large # of people, the battery replacement cost is still pretty scary.
Along the same EV topic, Tesla is supposedly coming out with a sub $13K car (Model 2). At that price, when the battery needs replacement it would probably be a throw away. However, the pre-production price and sticking to that when it beomes available hasn't been one of Tesla's strong traits. If they can pull it off, I'd consider a Model 2 and keep an ICE vehicle for long trips.
Again, when was the last time you were there? Things change. Latest stats show just over 55% of Ethiopia has electricity and that 96% of that is coming from hydro and the rest from wind.
You're also projecting what you think others believe about how Ethiopians live or what their concerns about the environment are (or are not) as that was never mentioned AFAIK.
If you really want to know, I suspected without looking further that the standard of living in Ethipia was way closer to that of Haiti than the US. Turns out I would have been right by the sound of it.
I didn't look further because this is a small nit regarding the larger conversation of the Levelized Cost Of Power (LCOE) for various power sources and specifically why I think what Trump did by shutting down the off-shore wind projects was wrong. The fact that federal judges overturned this implies they agree with me. I actually hope the companies builidng this out are able to sue and recover damages directly caused by Trump's actions.
FWIW - I did learn more about the topic and also liked seeing a different perspective on it, even if I don't agree with it. Unlike some that will never admit to making a mistake, I will and did by initally missing the large LCOE difference between off and on-shore wind. I learned something and now agree that we should also be building out gas/steam turbines, but in addition to green energy and not in place of it.
Further digging on my part shows that there IS a big difference between on-shore and off-shore wind power. It can cost as much to put in the foundation for an off-shore turbine as it does for the whole complete on-shore turbine. Part of the additional costs are running the cable and maintenance due to a harsher environment.
Off-shore turbines are larger and produce more power, but this doesn't offset their cost compared to on-shore. Both on-shore and solar PV systems come in at the lowest Levalized Cost Of Energy (LCOE), followed by gas-fired steam turbines. The drawback to gas is that, as clean as it is, it is still way dirtier than either wind or solar. It is also obviously tied to the price of gas.
One of the pluses of the off-shore wind is that it puts the power close to the shore. In most countries, the majority of the population (and electric demand) live close to the shore.
I posted some links below to the LCOE of the different sources. Some are easier to read than others. That said, pulling the permit for off-shore wind projects under construction was a stupid move. Last I heard, a judge overthrew that, so all it did was add MORE costs and delays and I would not be surprised if that data is used to prove a point later while leaving out the artificially created cost/delays.
One thing was also a surpise is that there was a substantial difference between coal and "clean coal", which involves scrubber tech. Either way, these are way worse in regards to air pollution compared to anything else.
ourworldindata. org/grapher/levelized-cost-of-energy
ww w.statista. com/chart/35117/levelized-cost-of-energy-generation-by-source/?srsltid=AfmBOorSYLcmvqEZeLMCe-DvDGwQ_aJUigsQElsJQQ94r5NQ9J1U8WR2
decarbonization.visualcapitalist. com/the-cheapest-sources-of-electricity-in-the-us/
I mean really I was in Ethiopia and that makes me am alternative energy expert LOL. In all fairness, I was not overly impressed with Mayhem's source but at least he gives them!
perhaps if you had said Mayhem in that response, as you have me in your last 2, there would not have been confusion. You tend to be all over the place and still haven't answered my question. At this point pretty clear you cannot and are just making posts from your fellow conspiracy nuts. Come on guy. You spoke about how obvious it was, hey just 2 or 3 would be good
you said I was pushing green propaganda because I asked a question. That is why I chose to say what I did.
I assure you I get tourist area vs non tourist areas. Been to a lot of places that plays out INCLUDING in the US.
Now can we get back on my question? Where are your wind turbine claims coming from? Mayham had no issue giving his ources and I am wondering where yours are from
you lived in Ethiopia? Visited? Worked in the energy sector?
I have simply asked a question and you are spewing a conspiracy theory about me. Completely false BTW.
