- cross-posted to:
- theguardian_us@ibbit.at
- cross-posted to:
- theguardian_us@ibbit.at
The war in Iran has caused a spike in gas prices that is hitting California consumers especially hard, according to data from the American Automobile Association (AAA).
AAA reports that in California, the most expensive US market for gas, the average price per gallon on Monday was $5.20, compared with $3.47 nationally. The national average climbed nearly $0.50 since the conflict began more than a week ago, while in the Golden state it rose by $0.55.
Since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on 28 February, leading to intensifying violence across the Middle East, the price of oil surged to more than $100 a barrel for the first time in nearly four years. The conflict has damaged oil and gas facilities and stranded ships carrying roughly 20m barrels of oil a day in the Gulf.
About 20% of the world’s oil is shipped through the strait of Hormuz every day but the channel has essentially been closed for the last week.
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BUT I THIUGHT BUDEN DID THAT?!?!’mj
Profit margins must be maintained.
Pretty glad I drive an electric car right now.
Only half joking, but all of the new data centers raising energy prices are unfortunately coming for you too. Still way cheaper than the gas equivalent though.
Jokes on you, I’ve got an electric car and solar panels. Fuck the grid!
Hot damn I wish I could do that. We recently had our first semi serious look into solar for our place. Maybe someday.
Man I wish I could do that, but I’d be fucked come winter.
I currently have a fixed price deal. The price is not ideal, but it’s bearable year-round and I don’t use that much electricity in the summer when the market rate is cheaper.
If I had solar panels and wanted it to be connected to the grid (so I wouldn’t have to run them on a separate circuit and could also sell back the excess), I’d be forced to the market rate package. Which in the winter can get ridiculously expensive. And it’s not like there’s a lot of sunshine here in the winter. 6 hours from sunrise to sunset and it’s cloudy most days - and if it’s not cloudy, it gets super cold and electricity demand goes up even more.
Our household has solar panels, two EVs, and a heat pump located in the Midwest. We still have 1:1 net metering so its nearly the ideal conditions as far as energy harvest and economic landscape. I know this won’t last, but I’m enjoying for the years that I can.
We also have a separate deductive meter where we can get about 25% discount on electricity that charges the cars. We only use it during the cold months because car electricity is free during the rest of the year from solar.
We have a small electricity bill in November, then big beefy electricity bills and for when the our location on Earth its tilted away the sun for the very cold months of Dec Jan, and Feb. March we get a bill but its about 1/10 of the cold months, and then usually electric bill until November again.
With the installation of our heat pump we cut off our natural gas connection. So the only energy bill we have is electricity during the cold months. No natural gas bill, no gasoline bill.
If it gets expensive, I can always get solar. Once you pay for the initial investment of the equipment, it’s basically free energy for decades.
I want to say our estimated break even was about a decade at our current consumption. I definitely need to get more quotes and see what the market has to offer. It’s 100% a bucket list item for me. My other hesitation is that I don’t want to live in my state for another 10 years. I think that I’m probably stuck here, but I feel once I pull that trigger, I’ve sealed my fate. My family and my wife’s are relatively near by, and while I’d move tomorrow if I could and budget for flights back, my wife does not feel the same.
I want to say our estimated break even was about a decade at our current consumption.
That calculation also likely assumes electricity prices stay the same for a decade. If electricity prices increase, your payback date arrives sooner.
True. Something I hadn’t taken into consideration. We’ve got a couple data centers coming up over the next couple years on my power grid. They’re for sure going to increase costs.
DCs are like roaches these days. If you see two going in, there are probably ten more than you don’t know about also going in.
You’re still affected by this as nearly everything you buy was transported on a truck.
The thing is EV owners have more money left for food.
Or, in my case, cyclists - a am mid-fifty now, and never hada car. When I feel the need to smile, I sum up the money I have saved this way.
You’re still affected by this as nearly everything you buy was transported on a truck.
Also, Californians pay 3x the national average for electricity too.
What does the truck that delivers your food run on?
No idea, but I feel it a lot more when commuting goes up 50% than when food goes up 20%.
Also, if I can have just one of those, instead of both, why wouldn’t I want that??
Something you may have glossed over if you don’t live in California: March is when the state begins to the switch to “Summer-blend” (a mix of spealized petroleum with 10.5% to 15% ethanol) which is required to be available by April 1 and until October 31. The price of gas was going to increase regardless.
Ha. Try 2.40/litre ($11/gallon) in Norway.
True, but density, public transportation, social services, and electrification are very different in much of the US. Fuel prices hit differently depending on where you live in the world.
Maybe the US needs $11/gallon as medicine.
My hope is that the price of fuel goes so crazy that people can’t afford to drive to work, causing a general strike.
Yeah probably
True, our fuel prices are way higher here in Europe, but we have a solid public transportation network, we have walkable cities and in countries like Norway the EVs are the majority.
From everything I’ve seen about US cities and American friends I talk to, for most people, if you don’t have a car you can’t get to work. That is a thought that is hard to process for Europeans.
If you don’t have a car you can’t get to work
This is it. This is the difference. Along with everything being spread out, and fuel efficient cars being a distinct minority. “Just ride a bike” is something I’d love to do, but I’d get killed by some monster-fueled purposefully stupid prick in a truck. And that person might get a ticket. The very idea of taking a bus or train to work is pure fantasy where I live.
Norway isn’t dense. It has less population density than the US does
True.
I’m primarily talking about specific regions of the US, not the whole place. Many places in the US are famous for sprawl.
Take a city like Huston, Texas. Triple the population of Oslo, but everyone is insanely spread out, and even city centers don’t feel particularly walkable.
Fuel prices hit hard of you’re a Norwegian living outside of the cities (which is the majority of Norwegians). You really need to have a car in the countryside, as both buses and trains are few and far between. There’s still plenty of fossil-fueled vehicles out here. People keep them because they either can’t afford to make the jump over to electric, don’t trust the EV’s to handle winter well enough, or because they’re worried about the technological hurdle (Norway is an aging population).
True. Almost all new vehicles are EVs, but 70% of the existing vehicles on the road are ICE. Super impressive, but that tank of fuel is extra painful if you’re in the countryside.
US gallon is 3.78L. $9/gallon.
Ah, you’re right. My goodness, couldn’t the Americans even agree with the rest of the world on make-believe silly-units?
“While we can agree that a gallon should be the nice, round sum of 32 gills, I find it ludicrous that you define it as five fluid ounces. I’m putting my foot down. In the United States, it will be the much more manageable four ounces, which will be a different size to your ounces. Nyyyaanyyaanyanyanyaaa!”
You haven’t had decades of anti-public-transit propaganda in Norway, I bet.
Don’t need the propaganda, we just need a completely Oslo-centric government that will happily spend money on public transit, as long as it’s in Oslo. Pretty much all the governments have been like that for most of my life.
Over $6 here
Bay Area
I’m guessing your in the City
San Diego?
Allowing for currency conversion it’s USD8.23 / gallon here in Victoria, Australia.
Diesel’s just about the same here in Estonia and it’s far from the most expensive in Europe when it comes to fuel. I believe that the Dutch enjoyed this price level when oil prices were fine - I don’t want to know what they have now.
Diesel is €2,50ish per liter now
Dang the summer blend fuel is gonna be north of $6 gallon then.
This is just the beginning. We are all paying Netanyahu’s war tax.
Nobody forced the whole west to support israel
I like it when gas prices go up, personally.
So all the groceries and everything else that is transported around gets to get more expensive for everyone too?
Why do you hate poor people?
We can stop subsidizing fossil fuels and make EV purchasing affordable. We could even make public transit usable, if we spent $43M/hr on it.
Yeah and if my grandma had wheels she’d be the fastest hooker in her retirement home.
I thought she’d be a bike, personally, but what do I know.
Was omnibus when I was growing up which is funny because the term omnibus was already antiquated by then and outside of that one specific saying, nobody ever used that term, so I didn’t even really know it’s just a regular ol’ bus.
Not when the government is openly and actively hostile toward all of those things
And you honestly believe that might happen during Trump’s presidency? Right now we’re worried about the rising prices in the here and now. Not what legislation we can pass maybe during the next presidency.
Poor people (households making under $50k) overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump, who started this war, so it’s really a self-own to be honest.
But, the cost of groceries going up isn’t really the part I like. For me, it’s knowing all the douchebags driving trucks that get 10mpg are gonna whine. I like it when truck and SUV drivers take it in the teeth. Maybe they’ll drive less. That’ll be good for the planet.
My sibling with two special needs children needs a larger vehicle to transport and live. They are as liberal as it gets and definitely didn’t vote for Trump. Lots of big vehicle owners are tools and don’t need them, but your generalizations also directly imply that those that truly need larger vehicles must also “take it in the teeth”.
Also, it’s not just poorer people that suffer from the rising prices of goods. I’m in a relatively stable and good financial situation and our household is feeling it as well, we’re just lucky enough that it’s not crippling us. Keep in mind that there are lots of poor people that also didn’t vote for Trump that you callously group with those that did.
It’s always funny to me how people say they need a big vehicle.
Somehow parents with special needs kids get by just fine in countries without American-sized trucks and SUVs, which is most countries on the planet.
Try to shove electric wheelchairs, 3 kids, 2 of which are special needs, and two adults into a small vehicle. Nobody anywhere is pulling that off. Get off your high horse.
They’re talking about people who don’t need them. Like the big spotless pavement princess pickups.
That’s not what they said. Same with poor* people. Like I mentioned their generalizations group everyone. If someone wants to make inflammatory statements, they should do so with specificity, otherwise they look hateful.
Since Trumpenyahu’s mad war I’ve been finding out that fertilisers, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, construction all rely on products derived from oil. So as much as its good to see fuel for cars going up. The price of absolutely everything is about to shoot up.
The Media: “Dear Leader gets tough with Iran! Victory is coming. But first the latest Taylor Swift news, and MARCH MADNESS!”
I passed a station that was over $5.50 on my way to a $5/gallon pump (it was just a block away, thank goodness for 7/11). I imagine that average is going to go WAY up.
We destroy our land and will never reap the ‘benefits’.
