On Thu, 2008-06-19 at 11:37 +0100, dan wrote: > On Thursday 19 June 2008 06:56:19 Roger Oberholtzer wrote: > > > If this keeps up, you will soon have Swedish prices. This is why I got > > rid of my car (a carless American?!?! > We took ours off road and store it in a garage we rent for £60 ($120) per > month. > > > In the southeast of England, I am convinced that everyone lives a one > > hour drive from work > Pretty much is that way, though more people (like my wife who has an hour and > a half trip to work) are turning to public transportation. > I live in a small town, so fortunately it is convenient to walk to most of > the > places I need to go. When it's a bit further distance I ride my mountain > bike. > > > . Twice a day, the entire population hits the roads > > and trades places. Or so it seems. I wonder what fuel prices are doing > > there. > Let's see...diesel now costs somewhere around £1.25 ($2.50) a litre. Unleaded > gas is about £1.20 a litre. > > Of course, more good news comes every day. Last night we were watching a > recap > of the late news and a government minister informed us all to be ready for a > 40% raise in home fuel cost right before Christmas. I find that particularly > galling as British Gas had a *net* profit of £576 million pounds last year.
The government reason is to force consumer pressure on vehicle manufacturers to make alternatives to the current offerings. Or so the government says. I have never seen a government say 'No' to such a readily available source of income. It irks me that ethanol is a being offered as a solution. I can't see ethanol being sustainable when done on the scale to make a difference. People are confusing cheapness (nit that ethanol is so much cheaper in Sweden) with sustainability. It is a very short term measure. I truly believe the biggest changes will be from people using locally produced things, and less of them. Stop transporting things that really do not need to be transported. Better public transport and better self-powered vehicles. Countries like China, who produce so much for export, are a problem. They have no thoughts about decreasing energy consumption. It, and cheap labor, is the mainstay of their economy. Western countries that have lost lots of manufacturing to such areas are, I bet, using much more fuel in the private sector (cars, homes, imported consumer goods and the like) than in the manufacturing sector. As such, they 'should' be in a better position to decrease this consumption. It is an attitude change that is needed. -- Roger Oberholtzer OPQ Systems / Ramböll RST Ramböll Sverige AB Kapellgränd 7 P.O. Box 4205 SE-102 65 Stockholm, Sweden Office: Int +46 8-615 60 20 Mobile: Int +46 70-815 1696 And remember: It is RSofT and there is always something under construction. It is like talking about large city with all constructions finished. Not impossible, but very unlikely. _______________________________________________ [email protected] Unsub/Pause/Etc : http://mail.linux-sxs.org/mailman/listinfo/general
