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$100 oil

from_the_NEK

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I can't afford to ski lift served terrain due to the recent fillup of my heating oil tank :(
Glad I bought a season pass last May saving up for one for next year is going to be tough this winter.
 

drjeff

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This is such a total over reactionary BS maneuver today. Big deal, there's a short lived cold snap across maybe 1/3rd of the country, and voila oil jumps almost $4 a barrel before falling back a bit towards the end of trading. Big deal, it's North America, it's January and it's cold, quite a newsflash! The biggest B.S. move will be tommorrow when some gas station owner spikes the price .10 to .15 a gallon based on this, when the oil that was traded today isn't even close to the refinery that will finally turn it into what we'll use a fuel likely WEEKS from now!

This is almost a perfect example of how modern technology/communications can be a BAD thing at instilling unneeded volitility in commodities markets!
 

Warp Daddy

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unfortunately you are On Target Doc:

herd mentality ??,
self-fulfilling prophesy ?? ,
overly nervous stock breakers ,??-

-welcome to the brave new world of mass stock market hysteria generated on the latest economic hiccup . sneeze or piece of psycho babble

Idiots are running the show
 

riverc0il

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Temporary spikes can be fueled and amplified by reactionary market hysteria. But long term trends are fueled by supply and demand. Milestones are less notable for their longevity than they are for their perspective.
 

Warp Daddy

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Lack of a meaningful alternative energy policies coupled with multi-national Oligopolies who HAVE POLITICIANS IN THEIR BACK POCKET AND THUS HAVE NO MEANINGFUL REGULATION = ECONOMIC STRANGULATION
 
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Whatever I spend a couple grand a year in gas..and another several grand a year for skiing...better than sitting at home watching Oprah...lol..gas prices are still pretty reasonable..I can drive 400 miles for 40 bucks..not bad..
 

bigbog

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Bangor and the state's woodlands
....

I think we should all be grateful that we have King George to thank for awakening us to the fact that WE'RE the ones addicted to oil....;-)
$.01
 
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ski_resort_observer

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It touched $100 but ended up the day below. It might go over $100 but I still feel it will be going down in the next couple of months. It's not Bush's fault that people are still buying gas guzzlers and when they go shopping the driver sits in the SUV with the motor running waiting for the family. Yesterday I noticed two parked in the Fire Lane at Shaws doing that. In Burlington you can get a ticket for idling while parked.
 
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hammer

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This came up in another discussion recently, but it's really a shame that the car and truck manufacturers created a horsepower race instead of a engineering more fuel efficient vehicles.
Went to the Auto Show in Boston last month...it was amazing how many huge SUVs were on display. I also noticed that the new Toyota Highlander is somewhat bigger than mine (I have an '01).

Nobody is holding a gun to people and telling them they have to buy one of these behemoth SUVs...

Each time I head up to Pats Peak I estimate it costs me about $15 in fuel alone. :x
 

riverc0il

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Part of the answer, at least with private passenger vehicles, will be steep taxes on vehicles with poor fuel mileage.
That and varying degrees of taxes of vehicle purchases. Larger and heavier vehicles put more wear and tear on the roads so a vehicle purchase price influenced by weight of the vehicle makes sense. No coincidence that heavier vehicles tend to get lower MPG as well. I maintain that alternative fuel vehicles will only become economically viable and personally/culturally desirable when fossil fuel prices become prohibitive of lifestyles. Skiing is a lifestyle and it is easy to poo poo on someone idling a vehicle but most skiers burn through a full tank of gas or more for a round trip ski weekend. Our lifestyle is part of the problem driving the consumption of fossil fuels, increasing demand, driving prices, etc. I say bring on four dollars per gallon and let's push for $150 a barrel. Then we will see some change. We are not yet at the breaking point when it comes to personal vehicle purchasing, though I think many people are starting to be MPG conscious, or at least more so than before.

Fuel consumption was the topic of an article I just put up yesterday which details in very precise and anal retentive measurements exactly how much fuel consumption and cost I am using this ski season. My hypothesis is that I will spend much more getting to the slopes than I do paying for lift tickets. Almost at $300 for 16 days and I anticipate 50+ this season. Just for some perspective, I get 35 MPG which means the average SUV driver driving Metro to 2k vert mountains probably has paid well over that much money for less than half as many days.

We often quibble over lift ticket prices but forget to add in the cost of gas. I quibble over both. When you add in cost of travel to lift ticket prices, you will often find it cheaper to pay more for a lift ticket at a closer mountain of nearly equal terrain and conditions than drive further away for a bigger mountain. Should be interesting to see how my cost calculator works out at the end of the season when I can average the per day cost of my pass and factor that average into the equation. Ironically, to drive per day costs down, I must ski and drive more days, lol.

Any ways, big point here is before we start causing a fuss about how expensive fuel costs are, let's look in the mirror and take a look at our own impact both personally and as a skiing/riding culture. My home heating tank needs a refill, now that is where I start getting concerned about the price of a barrel of oil. Not like I can adjust my personal lifestyle nor get a better MPG tank. :lol: If I had veins of ice like Marc, I could just set the thermostat at 55 though ;)
 

riverc0il

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Went to the Auto Show in Boston last month...it was amazing how many huge SUVs were on display. I also noticed that the new Toyota Highlander is somewhat bigger than mine (I have an '01).
Cars in general just seem "bigger" lately. My significant other recently bought a Nissan Sentra, 2003 I believe. It is tiny compared to the newer models. The new Altima is a tank compared to the older sized cars. I have noticed that trend with the larger Saturn cars. Pretty much across the board from economy to mid-sized to full sized cars, they just look bigger for some reason. I think SUV's are trending to the ends of the spectrum, either huge or a little smaller. It is trendy and cool and hip to have a so called "cross over"... a slightly slimed down SUV that doesn't scream out quite the way SUVs do, as the culture as a whole is changing perspective. But they still look bulkier than need be.
 

hammer

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One other thought...I know that it doesn't directly cost people anything, but has anyone working in an office building considered turning down the thermostat in/near their offices a few degrees? It shouldn't hurt the computers, and if all it means is that you may have to wear a sweater or sweatshirt then no big deal...
 
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One other thought...I know that it doesn't directly cost people anything, but has anyone working in an office building considered turning down the thermostat in/near their offices a few degrees? It shouldn't hurt the computers, and if all it means is that you may have to wear a sweater or sweatshirt then no big deal...


Where I work the heat is hella high because the office manager is always cold so turning the thermstat down is not an option..cars are bigger because people are bigger. What was considered overweight 30 years ago is pretty average. The key in this world is to make as much money as possible because prices keep rising like crazy..a 10 percent raise doesn't mean much with inflation
 

ComeBackMudPuddles

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Went to the Auto Show in Boston last month...it was amazing how many huge SUVs were on display. I also noticed that the new Toyota Highlander is somewhat bigger than mine (I have an '01).

Nobody is holding a gun to people and telling them they have to buy one of these behemoth SUVs...

Each time I head up to Pats Peak I estimate it costs me about $15 in fuel alone. :x


To be fair, it takes 3-5 years to bring cars/trucks to the market, so manufacturers can only react so quickly.
 

Warp Daddy

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Sorry for the rant guys but i'm really tired of all the "cry assin " by the financially undisciplined public coupled with lack of leadership on alternatives.

This Energy thing IS NOT NEW guys ! this nation has been thru this once before in the 70's and FAILED to learn from that experience . People still live way beyond their means, are in serious debt thru lack of financial discipline and are materialistic to a fault.-- thus oversized cars , homes and rear ends :D

YET they want bail outs and piss & moan about how there's nothing they can do to help themselves--that's nonsense

Personally : I ve been driving vehicles that average well over 30 mpg for over 35 years, have upgraded my home heating sytems to hi- e stds, insulated to the max , 44 new hi -e windows and have always computed fuel costs in my skiing budget and am DEBT free with a strong net worth thru good planning AND financial discipline and living withinn one's means as alife style .

It ain't rocket science -.and the Fact of the Matter is NO ONE cares about WHAT YOU HAVE -- so stop trying to impress them
 
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