#768866 - 25/08/06 02:58 AM
Re: UK Fuel Prices
[Re: Motley]
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Scientist of Fortune
Registered: 15/04/05
Loc: Edinburgh
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Mostly tax, then petrol price, then price fixing.
Well, technically not price fixing, just not bothering to lower prices unless someone else does. That's just the way the wonderful world of capitalism works.
Costly petrol keeps down emissions, but keeping prices inflated is bad for the economy, so it's a doubled edged sword real.
Personally I walk. After the revolution we'll probably all be made to give up our cars and wear grey jump suits, so I figure it's time to keep the legs working.
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According to Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle of Quantum Dynamics, we may already be making love right now...
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#768868 - 25/08/06 05:13 AM
Re: UK Fuel Prices
[Re: jeff(fake)]
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addict
Registered: 09/10/05
Loc: UK
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Written by: jeff(fake)
Mostly tax, then petrol price, then price fixing.
Well, technically not price fixing, just not bothering to lower prices unless someone else does. That's just the way the wonderful world of capitalism works.
Costly petrol keeps down emissions, but keeping prices inflated is bad for the economy, so it's a doubled edged sword real.
Personally I walk. After the revolution we'll probably all be made to give up our cars and wear grey jump suits, so I figure it's time to keep the legs working.
Good on you for walking to work. The trouble is its cheaper for me to live at my parents and commute for 2 hours a day (i do pay rent by the way) than it is to rent a 1 bed flat close to where I work. I've recently moved back to my parents for exactly that reason. I guess its a case of environment 0 my wallet 1 in this case. I'd be only too happy to live and work in the same place but with housing prices as they are its just not practical for me.
I was just shocked at the difference, theres not many goods that would shift in price by as much as 7% in a week for the end consumer.
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#768869 - 25/08/06 05:59 AM
Re: UK Fuel Prices
[Re: Motley]
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Stargazer
Registered: 20/09/03
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*entering the realm of world politics* Well, guess.... natural desasters, broken pipelines, war in the middle east, sheiks needs new international airport - prices rise.... aftermath - prices slump. The "Graph of correction" (aka "Hassan, got the swiss bank account statements ready?" "Oops, Sheik Bobby, we made a few extra trillion dollars!" "Fair enough!")... basically is like going fishing: When the lad is on the hook, fisherman pulls.... relaxes.... pulls harder.... relax.... But ultimately the fish looses the fight, unless he can cut off the string...  IMHO
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the best smiles are the ones you lead to 
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#768870 - 27/08/06 10:19 AM
Re: UK Fuel Prices
[Re: FireTom]
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Member
Registered: 26/08/06
Loc: Nr Petersfield
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I have a car, I have a student budget, and I can safely say that petrol has a hugely inflated price, and that the price is also incredibly unstable. I'm willing to bet that the main reason that petrol prices go up when there is some oil-related news story is to make more profit than usual, rather than to match the petrol price increase. However, I also agree with the high petrol price. It WILL dissuade people from driving too much, and so it WILL spare the environment more. It is also unfriendly to SUVs, which is a huge bonus as loads of people drive a big car for no reason other than it makes them 'feel good', and that really gets to me. I think it would be a good idea to apply it in the US, and see if the emission levels drop dramatically over a few years as it kicks in to people that, actually, efficient cars are better. http://www.teslamotors.com/If I had the money, this would be my car, without question. its not environmentally perfect, but its an excellent start. Eliminates the cost of petrol altogether =)
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#768871 - 27/08/06 12:34 PM
Re: UK Fuel Prices
[Re: TotalEclipse]
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HOP Mad Doctor
Registered: 28/05/01
Loc: San Francisco, CA, USA
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Eclipse, it makes up for it in electricity, which is far cheaper than petroleum in the UK.
The problem with pure battery cars is that while they're great for day-to-day use, when they run out of juice, it takes a LOOONG time (hours) to recharge them. That makes them completely worthless for high-demand jobs or long road trips.
I heard of a rather interesting solution, which is that a car could be driven by batteries, but to make it technically feasable, rather than recharging the batteries, all cars would come equipped with industry standard replaceable batteries. You'd pull into a swap-out station, pay, and then a robot would pull out your spent batteries and put them into a charger, and then it would replace them with fresh batteries. And then you'd drive on. Total time would be comparable to a fill-up.
_________________________
-Mike )'(
Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella
"A buckuht 'n a hooze!" -Valura
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#768872 - 28/08/06 08:28 AM
Re: UK Fuel Prices
[Re: Doc Lightning]
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Member
Registered: 26/08/06
Loc: Nr Petersfield
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Written by: Doc Lightning
Eclipse, it makes up for it in electricity, which is far cheaper than petroleum in the UK.
Electricity is not only cheaper, but environmentally potentially emission free - Tesla mention on their site that they are collaberating with solar cell producers to produce a home charging method that has zero emissions. And that, of course, would be free after the investment in solars.
Written by: Doc Lightning
The problem with pure battery cars is that while they're great for day-to-day use, when they run out of juice, it takes a LOOONG time (hours) to recharge them. That makes them completely worthless for high-demand jobs or long road trips.
I heard of a rather interesting solution, which is that a car could be driven by batteries, but to make it technically feasable, rather than recharging the batteries, all cars would come equipped with industry standard replaceable batteries. You'd pull into a swap-out station, pay, and then a robot would pull out your spent batteries and put them into a charger, and then it would replace them with fresh batteries. And then you'd drive on. Total time would be comparable to a fill-up.
That is the proposed method for hydrogen fuel cells, I believe. That would work very well indeed, whereupon the problem would be getting the industry to agree to a standard - the robot would have to fit neatly into the unique body shape of each model, and so there would have to be some identical part on every car, which no doubt industry people would be very unhappy about - the batteries would be far to heavy for people to lift.
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