TVCH FORUMS HOME . JOIN . FAN CLUBS . DONATE . CONTACT . CHAT  
                  Quick Links   TOPICS . TREE-VIEW . SEARCH . HELP! . NEWS . PROFILE
Archive through October 12, 2008

Reality TVClubHouse Discussions: General Discussions ARCHIVES: Oct. 2008 - Dec. 2008: Free Expressions: Ideas for saving gas!!!: Archive through October 12, 2008 users admin

Author Message
Seamonkey
Moderator

09-07-2000

Thursday, October 09, 2008 - 11:43 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Seamonkey a private message Print Post    
Northern CA has some windfarms, but there is a conflict with animal rights since birds fly into the windmill things and die.

My condo was built around 1964 and I know they already checked on putting solar panels on the clubhouse to run some power, at least for the pool, but they were told the roof couldn't take the weight. And of course I don't own my own roof (or section of two buildings, so I couldn't just decide to put up panels, even if I could afford it. Would love it because I don't use THAT much electric and could sell some back.

Spygirl
Board Administrator

04-23-2001

Friday, October 10, 2008 - 8:28 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Spygirl a private message Print Post    
$2.76 here today

Costacat
Member

07-15-2000

Friday, October 10, 2008 - 9:31 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Costacat a private message Print Post    
Mass transit in the States no way compares to mass transit in Europe. Only recently has southern California even really begun to tip the iceberg in favor of mass transit (and even then, we've also added more car pool lanes because people just won't give up their cars). There are more cars owned by families here in the States than there are in Europe. (How many families here have more than one car?)

I have a problem with wind farms because of the way it adversely affects the environment. But I am also for wind farms because it's a free energy source. I'm very conflicted. All I know is we lose lots and lots of birds and other animals (including bats) to the wind farms down here.

Csnog
Member

07-18-2002

Friday, October 10, 2008 - 11:39 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Csnog a private message Print Post    
Well I'm in a quandry also but we need ideas.

Natural gas here in Michigan was just given a 27% price raise for research and price increase. That's not too promising for auto usage either.

I'm off to Florida today and will report on the price of gas I encounter after I arrive

Seamonkey
Moderator

09-07-2000

Friday, October 10, 2008 - 1:25 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Seamonkey a private message Print Post    
I'm conflicted, too Costa.. I didn't think about bats :-( Bats are helpful. (Not saying birds aren't).

$3.35 was still the cheapest of my stations today. Someone told me it was $3.33 at Costco.

Mocha
Member

08-12-2001

Friday, October 10, 2008 - 1:31 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Mocha a private message Print Post    
$3.17

Ladytex
Member

09-27-2001

Friday, October 10, 2008 - 1:44 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Ladytex a private message Print Post    
$2.99 here today, $2.69 in the town about 30 miles southeast

Couchtomato
Member

09-09-2008

Friday, October 10, 2008 - 1:57 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Couchtomato a private message Print Post    
$3.55 this afternoon, some stations still have maximum $$ purchase.

Hukdonreality
Member

09-29-2003

Friday, October 10, 2008 - 2:27 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Hukdonreality a private message Print Post    
New York still sucks. I just paid $3.69 and people were oohing and aahing over how cheap it was now.

Pamy
Member

01-02-2002

Friday, October 10, 2008 - 5:09 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Pamy a private message Print Post    
3.45 by fwy in Riverside CA...down street it was 3.35....how much has it gone down in last 6 mo.

on the bad side, the fwy got way more crowded this week!! took an extra 15 min to get to work....I would rather paying higher gas and spend less time on fwy

the 3/4 of us could take train but we prefer to carpool...I hate not having access to a car when I am 37 miles from home

Juju2bigdog
Member

10-27-2000

Friday, October 10, 2008 - 6:18 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Juju2bigdog a private message Print Post    
$2.99 here today at the cheap gas place, which means it was also $2.99 at Costco, down 8 cents from yesterday and 18 cents from two days ago.

Costacat
Member

07-15-2000

Friday, October 10, 2008 - 6:48 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Costacat a private message Print Post    
Sea, bats are even more affected than other birds. They use sonar and once they've "sighted" on an area that's free, by the time they've got there, that free space is suddenly occupied by a blade. Most of the birds that are affected are migratory birds, too, so they end up being caught in a wind farm that they know nothing about. I wish there could be some sort of "deflector", but I guess that would kinda negate the energy from the wind, huh?

Pamy, when I commuted to OC, I bought a beater car and left it there. Of course, I was 68 miles from home, and I needed to get from the train station to my office, and the only means of getting there was a bus that ran really weird times and would drop me blocks from my office, but still... many train stations allow overnight parking or allow overnight permittedf parking. Might be worth it to investigate a beater car. I never did calculate how much I'd spend in gas vs train fare, but the time savings was invaluable (and I wasn't dependent on some idiot doing something stoopid and shutting I-5 down for hours!). I could actually work or read or talk to people or eat or whatever (*and* use the facilities!!).

Seamonkey
Moderator

09-07-2000

Friday, October 10, 2008 - 9:11 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Seamonkey a private message Print Post    
Yeah it seemed to me you made the best of that whole experience, the train with your cars on each end!

I was thinking last night of giant cages but they'd have to be able to keep out small birds and not block the wind.

Glad to see you posting.. hope you are over your reaction to flu shot. Me, I went trotting in for mine today and .. uh.. it is November 10! Sigh.. so I picked up tickets to a couple of fun events and went grocery shopping.

Csnog
Member

07-18-2002

Saturday, October 11, 2008 - 10:15 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Csnog a private message Print Post    
Walled Lake,Michigan was $2.99

Just over the state line in Ohio it was $2.85

West Virginia just bought $10.00 as it was $3.49
drove to Beckly and filled at a truck stop $2.99

Georgia I paid $3.09 and then saw it for $2.79

Florida is $3.39 to $3.59

Who is making the money? I understand different taxes in each state and each county but the difference is amazing.

Seamonkey
Moderator

09-07-2000

Saturday, October 11, 2008 - 11:19 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Seamonkey a private message Print Post    
The two close stations are $3.35 and $3.33 today and I saw a station near where I went to eat lunch with $3.31..

The gas sold in California is different and we do have more taxes as well.

When I was travelling in 1995 I found that unleaded was 86 octane in quite a few states, while it was 87 octane here in Calif.. no idea if that is still the case. But we also had the nozzles with shields and such and I only saw those in a few urban areas across the country (and I went from Calif to Maine to DC and inland in NC, TN, KY, OH, Indiana and down to the Mississippi gulf coast and then back to Calif, so I hit quite a few states. I know we have special additives here and also different gas in the summer as opposed to winter.

Csnog, it is interesting to travel and see all the differences.. I'm envisioning your trip.. when I was a kid all of our trips started in Michigan,, one of those trips went first to Niagra falls and NY and then down the coat to Florida.

Csnog
Member

07-18-2002

Sunday, October 12, 2008 - 9:18 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Csnog a private message Print Post    
All stations have shields now. Thats a law. I travel back and forth between Michigan and Florida every year and have since 1986. We also have different gas in the summer and then the fall. I'm just angry and will be shooting off a letter to the AG and the Gov, about the price.

Oil has come down in price yet Florida has kept their price up. Georgia and N. Carolina had a shortage with lines for gas after Ike that just let up last week. Their prices are better than Florida that had no interuption.

It takes me 3 full tanks of gas to get here.

In Mich. I take my cans and bottles back (.10 ) deposit on them and use it for gas.

Florida has no bottle return and the highways get littered. The grocery stores lobby to not have a return policy. That's also nuts.

Pamy
Member

01-02-2002

Sunday, October 12, 2008 - 9:51 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Pamy a private message Print Post    
Costa, so many ppl have jumped on train in last year that it's not a relaxing experience like it was when I took it years ago. They dont obey capacity rules and ppl are crammed in like sardines...my clostrophobia kicks in big time...

I took the train years ago and loved it but not anymore...plus because so many get in/out at stops it takes LONGER to take the train than drive (we use the 91 express lanes for 10 of our 37 miles. we have 3+ so its free in the morning and 1/2 price at night)

Costa, you are right about not being at the mercy of the fwy if they shut it down but 'knock on wood' we havent had any days we couldnt get home, there have been a few that took us twice as long but there are train break downs so it kind of evens out.

The county used to give a lot more incentives to carpooling, now we just get a 10.00 starbuck card twice a year. They do offer 400 off per mo on a vanpool but carpoling is still cheaper

Ladytex
Member

09-27-2001

Sunday, October 12, 2008 - 10:02 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Ladytex a private message Print Post    
$2.89 at Chevron and Texaco, $2.95 right across the street at 7-11

Costacat
Member

07-15-2000

Sunday, October 12, 2008 - 10:53 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Costacat a private message Print Post    
Pamy, that was one reason why I took Amtrak (the other, of course, was I'd have to take the Coaster to O'side and then switch to the Metrolink). I hated the Metrolink on the few occasions I had to take it. Then again, I boarded in San Diego, the first train out of the day and got off in San Juan Capistrano, so I wasn't on a capacity train. Coming home, I left work early and took the 3 something train home, for the same reasons.

In all the time I commuted on a train, there was only one time that things really got messed up and THAT was the time I took a train north to Chatsworth to give a presentation at a dinner meeting. Most of the time, when something happened (more often, someone deciding to take a header on the tracks) it was north of me and never affected my commute. Still, that one time I was stuck on the train for three hours I could work, eat, drink, chat with others, get up to pee... Much better than being stuck on a freeway for that same length of time! :-)

Costacat
Member

07-15-2000

Sunday, October 12, 2008 - 10:56 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Costacat a private message Print Post    
Which, all points back to the fact that mass transit here in the States in no way compares to mass transit in Europe. When I first started commuting to OC, the train was fairly empty both ways. By the time I quit working up there (and switched to a 700 mile commute!), gas prices had gone over $4 and ridership had increased. But they didn't increase the number of trains running the tracks.

Also remember, at least for most of the tracks down here, the same set of rails are used for commuter trains, Amtrak, and freight trains. Which means that a commuter train gets priority, followed by Amtrak, followed by freight. And if you aren't a commuter train (or if the train was running late), you're pushed off a side track to wait till the other train(s) pass. One set of tracks, one direction, three types of trains. And how again is mass transit so good down here? :-)

Spygirl
Board Administrator

04-23-2001

Sunday, October 12, 2008 - 11:49 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Spygirl a private message Print Post    
$2.59 here yesterday and today.

Pamy
Member

01-02-2002

Sunday, October 12, 2008 - 1:39 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Pamy a private message Print Post    
Costa, yes the track situation can be bad (obviously in the crash last month) I think between OC and Riverside they have made it all double track so they dont have to switch tracks anymore...but that is just one small area. CA is wking to make it more commuter friendly but it is still far behind NY/Europe

Csnog
Member

07-18-2002

Sunday, October 12, 2008 - 2:48 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Csnog a private message Print Post    
I won't take the train. My late husband was involved in the same type of deadly crash in Chicago. the computer train entered the older train and it was so sad. My husband was very lucky at the time.

Until the U.S installs a double track I wont go on one.

Long ago we took the train from Vancouver to Banff in Canada and loved it.

Urgrace
Member

08-19-2000

Sunday, October 12, 2008 - 5:16 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Urgrace a private message Print Post    
$2.659 central Texas! From the CircleK to the Shell!!!!!

Babyruth
Member

07-19-2001

Sunday, October 12, 2008 - 8:51 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Babyruth a private message Print Post    
2.89 tonite at Marathon in SE Michigan, most other brands too.