Fuel for thought
Did you know gas may become $10 a gallon by 2011?
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By Angela Chiu  | Published June 2008

Recently, I have been driving independently more and more. Next year, I will be driving to and from school. Because of this, I have thought about gas prices more frequently. Many drivers are complaining about the ridiculous price of gas lately. In places such as Florida gas is about $3.80 a gallon. In places such as California, gas has already hit more than $4.00 a gallon. 20 cents may not seem like such a difference, however, if your car holds 25 gallons of gas, each time you fi ll up in California, you would be spending $5 more than if you were in Florida.

Of, course, my point here isn’t that everyone from California should move to Florida, that wouldn’t solve the problem. It’s obvious that the reason of the recent infl ation is due to the change in gas’s supply and demand curve. Simply put, oil is a nonreusable natural resource, and the amount available for use is decreasing. However, the Earth’s population is exponentially increasing every year and with our need to travel, more and more people will be using gasoline. With a rapidly decreasing supply and an exponentially increasing demand, economists say that by the year 2011, gas will be roughly $10 a gallon. Unless someone discovers a new oil reserve soon, we will never see low gas prices again.

CNN recently produced a segment on gas. The news station played a tape that was filmed in a few years ago. Several consumers complained that $2.35 a gallon was way too much and one consumer stated that the price was ridiculous and that she wasn’t going to drive anymore. (It’s highly improbable that she gave up driving altogether; the average person nowadays travels about 30 to 40 miles a day.) CNN also interviewed several people recently about the current gas prices of nearly $4.00 a gallon. This time, many produced a more intelligent answer: people should start thinking about ways to reduce the amount of gas they use and people should start thinking about ways
to save gas.

Some might be thinking right now, “What good would it do if I used less gas? There are millions of other people in the US that own giant Hummers or pick-up trucks.” Unfortunately, this is true. Because in the US
we have many freedoms and liberties, we can only hope that more people will begin to consider this problem and more people will take to their own initiative. If everyone traded in their large vans for smaller cars or set up a carpool system then that would be the first step in saving gas.

Granted, there are always skeptics. Some people say that the only reason we have high gas prices right now is because the oil refi neries are raising the price per gallon and keeping a large profi t for themselves. Other people say that science has already invented hybrid cars - those that use both electricity and gas – as well as alternate forms of fuel. While these facts may also be true, we also need to consider other aspects. Even if oil refi neries are charging more for their services, that doesn’t erase the fact that we’re still using oil at a rapidly increasing rate. And in regards to new technology, cars are not the only machines that run on gasoline. From airplanes to lawnmowers to military fi ghter jets to motorcycles, it could take several years before science invents enough technology to accommodate all of our traveling needs.

So while we’re waiting to see what happens, keep this in mind. You can reduce the amount of gas you use by just watching your driving habits. Here’s an interesting tidbit: if you’re driving 40 miles or slower it doesn’t matter if you have you’re A/C on or if you have your windows down; however, if you’re driving faster than 40 miles an hour, you would save more gas by using the A/C. You will also save a lot of gas by not keeping your car idle. If you are waiting to pick someone up, park your car, roll down your windows and shut off the engine. This could save you 10% to 15% of your gas. This I do not recommend, however, if you are willing to drive behind a large freight or trailer cars, you could reduce wind resistance from anywhere between 20% to 70% depending on how close you tailgate it, thereby reducing the amount of gas you. Okay, so even if the last idea seems far-fetched, think about the future generations. If gas reaches $10 a gallon, driving may become a rich person’s luxury. Will the average person be willing to wake up earlier than normal so they can walk or cycle miles to get to work? I think about this often when I drive, I do not wish for my 12 year old sister to have to walk 3 or 4 miles to get to high school when I had the comfort to drive.