gas prices

Design Discussions general design discussion
1

i got this from a forwarded email. it was instead of a virus, something more like a T-cell:

A Workable Solution…

I hear we are going to hit close to $3.00 a gallon by the summer. Want
gasoline prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united
action. Phillip Hollsworth, offered this good idea: This makes MUCH MORE
SENSE than the “don’t buy gas on a certain day” campaign that was going
around last April or May! The oil companies just laughed at that because
they knew we wouldn’t continue to “hurt” ourselves by refusing to buy gas.
It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them.
BUT, whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can really
work. … Please read it and join with us!

By now you’re probably thinking gasoline priced at about $1.50 is super
cheap. Me too! It is currently $1.97 for regular unleaded in my town.
Now the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think
that the cost of a gallon of gas is CHEAP at $1.50- $1.75. Unless we’re
satisfied with the ever increasing cost of gasoline, we need to take
aggressive action to let them know that BUYERS control the marketplace

…

not sellers. With the price of gasoline going up more each day, we
consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price
of gas come down is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing
their gas!
And we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves. How? Since we all rely on

our

cars, we can’t just stop buying gas. But we CAN have an impact on gas
prices if we all act together to force a price war.

Here’s the idea: For the rest of this year, DON’T purchase ANY gasoline
from the two biggest companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL. If
they are not selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their

prices.

If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit.
But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Exxon and
Mobil gas buyers. It’s really simple to do!! Now, don’t wimp out on me at
this point … keep reading and I’ll explain how simple it is to reach
millions of people!!

I am sending this note to about thirty people. If each of you send it to

at

least ten more (30 x 10 = 300) … and those 300 send it to at least ten
more (300 x 10 = 3,000)…and so on, by the time the message reaches the
sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION
consumers! If those three million consumers get excited and pass this on

to

at least ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been

contacted!

If it goes one level further, you guessed it… THREE HUNDRED MILLION
PEOPLE!!!

Again, all You have to do is send this to 10 people. That’s all. (If you
don’t understand how we can reach 300 million and all you have to do is
send this to 10 people… Well, let’s face it, you just aren’t a
mathematician.
But I am … so trust me on this one.)

How long would all that take? If each of us sends this e-mail out to ten
more people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could
conceivably be contacted within the next 8 days!!! I’ll bet you didn’t
think you and I had that much potential, did you! Acting together we can
make a difference.

If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on.
PLEASE HOLD OUT UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $1.30 RANGE AND KEEP
THEM DOWN…
THIS CAN REALLY WORK.

Kerry Lyle, Director, Research
Interventional Cardiology Research Laboratories
Division of Cardiovascular Diseases
932 Ziegler Research Bldg.
703 South 19th Street
University of Alabama @ B’ham
Birmingham, Al 35294-0007
Phone: (205) 934-6163
Fax: (205) 934-7360

2

Jerry…when you post on a website it is :exclamation: UNWISE :exclamation: to publish all of the contact information of the person who sent you the email.

I’m not sure if Exxon/Mobil could hold this as slander in a court of law.

3

accept for the fact that all the big oil companies sell laterally

meaning: sun oil and exxon mobil sell to bp, citgo, texaco, etc.

even at a no name gas station you are usually buying big name gas

4

assuming the person in the email really wanted to remain anonymous, then he probably wouldn’t have put his info in an email designed to reach every breathing soul on the planet.

i doubt that what this person has to say would be considered slander. it would be slander if it what was being said could be false.

so, would it be true or false that 3 million people could adversely affect gas prices?

let’s say the average person buys 10 gallons of gasoline.

i just bought gas at $1.83 per gallon.

ten gallons cost me $18.30.

but we’ll use the national average of $1.717 / gallon which would give me a total of $17.17 for ten gallons.

i get an average of 30 mpg so, ideally, i could go 300 miles before my next fill up.

the average commute is 20 miles a day (round trip) which would give me a little over two weeks before my next fill up.

but, in reality, i have to fill up at least three times a month. for now, we’ll settle just for the one time.

assuming 3 million people also buy 10 gallons of gas, once.

$17.17 x 3,000,000 people = $51,510,000 for one day in the pocket of Mobil or Exxon.

$17.17 x 30,000,000 people = $515,100,000. Just for one day of gasoline.

But lets also examine these numbers:

i buy 10 gallons.

10 x 3,000,000 people = 30,000,000 gallons of petroleum.

10 x 30,000,000 people = 300,000,000 gallons of petroleum.

the exxon valdez spilled 53,000,000 gallons of crude oil into prince william sound.

Would losing $51,510,000 in one day be good or bad? If it would be bad, then it would be true that, in one day, the BUYERS would have a collective voice to oppose the raising of gas prices.

a week of this activity:

7 x $51,510,000 = $360,570,000

for investing money, time is everything. the same can go for losing it too.
if you buy gas, then you do have a voice.

http://www.zevnet.org/car_summit/01%20Summit_Recker.pdf

http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/american_community_survey_acs/001695.html

http://www.arbitron.com/radio_stations/travel.asp

http://www.onlineconversion.com/volume.htm

http://tankership-search.com/default.asp?page=1

http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/photos/exxon/exxon.html

http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/wrgp/mogas_home_page.html

http://www.overpopulation.org/

http://www.rppi.org/transportation/ps147.html

http://www.publicpurpose.com/ut-6995commute.htm
http://www.econ.ucsd.edu/~miwhite/econ135/lecture7a.pdf

5

This topic has nothing to do with design. Please take it elsewhere.

6

hehe…look at you high up on your soapbox…I agree this is a design board…I believe core set-up a separate forum for all the tree-huggers…oh yea, if you compare US gas prices compared to the rest of the world, $1.50 IS CHEAP…Jerry, you’re an idiot, but funny…thanks for the laugh.

Why don’t you use this discussion to persue to design topic such as…

How design can improve public transportation to reduce US fuel consumption? Why are other nations more sucessful in providing/using mass transportation? (hint. might have something to do with their gas prices) That’s a topic.

7

hmm…look at ME high up on my soapbox. just how big are you?

exactly how are you determining that this discussion is not design related?

doctors have this:

http://www.imagerynet.com/hippo.ama.html

what do industrial designers have?

http://www.idsa.org/webmodules/articles/anmviewer.asp?a=89&z=23

for the most part, it’s a brief definition of what industrial designers do. but it also points out another issue, that of responsibility. if you make something, you are responsible for how its made, how its used or not used, and ultimately when it no longer becomes useful. but industrial design has not always been limited to those things tangible. it’s also applicable to process, which itself is a “thing” that can be designed.

this discussion wasn’t really about petroleum, a source of energy for a majority of those interested in transportation design, but really about the design of the boycott.

“How can design improve public transportation to reduce US fuel consumption?”

First, I would do research based on this assumption. Is it public transportation that needs to reduce fuel consumption? Or is the the privately owned vehicles? I would venture that it was the latter that needs to reduce fuel consumption. Specifically, the tractor trailers which have the duty of moving the stuff we design. But if the boycott were to be truly effective, pilots would have the most impact:

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/efficiency/ee_ch5.htm

“Why are other nations more sucessful in providing/using mass transportation? (hint. might have something to do with their gas prices)”

Better yet, it may have something to do with culture.

GM: “Here’s this brand new HUMMER H2! Imagine what you can do with this.”

An American living in rural America may consider it. Put that American in downtown Tokyo, New York, or LA and watch for a slight shift in thinking.

People celebrate freedom through their cars. It’s almost a need brought on by the marketing of car companies portraying people in their cars on deserted highways doing 360’s and what not. What the hell are they smoking?

Besides, I don’t think the public transportation systems would even be ready to handle one single day where everyone decided at once to take the bus or train to work, which I think also burn petroleum of some kind. here, some hearty reminders of this event:

Hmm…and if gas kept going up, the public transportation systems would have to absorb the cost somehow. Guess they could always raise fares.

Someone should come up with a way to make gas cheaper…yeah, it should be someone else’s problem. The oil companies say there’s plenty of fossil fuel to last forever. The public should just continue to pay for what is given to them.

Sorry, but that’s not the posititon I’m taking.

If there is plenty of fuel for everyone, then prices shouldn’t be going up. But they are. Why?

“oh yea, if you compare US gas prices compared to the rest of the world, $1.50 IS CHEAP”

compared to the rest of the world, America is the largest consumer of oil:

http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2174rank.html


i’m especially humored by individuals that like to insult me but have difficulty spelling “pursue”.

it makes me giggle.

8

some of us have jobs, and quickly write a post…you’re probably either a student or are lost in the corporate world of design, which is why you have this much time on your hands to provide endless links to support your arguement…which by the way is pointless.

9

big red, i apologize.

its nothing against you personally, but you can’t help me.

all i’m trying to do is help start a revolution.

“…the US remains the world’s most powerful nation-state. The economy is marked by steady growth, low unemployment and inflation, and rapid advances in technology.”

http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/us.html

we’ve also seen two successful Mars landings, three in my lifetime.

and you know what, we’re still dependent on fossil fuel.

i would very much like to see this change. but the cause of this dependency is a direct result of the very things that U.S. consumers buy.

these are things that help us move us and our belongings, designed by yours truly:

scooters
http://www.majiamotors.com/

motorcycles

cars
http://www.edge-inc.net/cars/

RVs

tractor trailers

boats

jetskis

this is why America is dependent on fossil fuel.

but we’re dependent on it because these products all fix us with some “need” we need to have.

which is fine.

but, i do think we, the industrial design community, can satisfy these needs a little more responsibly. we know what fossil fuels are doing to the environment but we’re powerless without first the consumer recognizing that change should take place.

but once they, the consumer, recognize that they can make a difference then we, the industrial design community, can address their needs.

its what we do best.

we are no longer limited in just the tangible aspect of a product. there’s the emotional aspect we can now address:

i “need” to speed:

http://content2.us.porsche.com/prod/911/turbo.nsf/usaenglish/technical_specifications911_turbo_coupe

okay, can i get the “need” without the gas?

can i get the “need” without legs?

http://www.springfieldwin.com/aimee_mullins.htm

what happens then is that the consumer is awakened to compromise.

we have “needs”.

what are they willing to live with, or live without?

i wouldn’t necessarily call myself a tree-hugger, but i’m at least sensitive to the fact that there needs to be a signigicant shift in some industrial processes that provide the things we “need”.

starting first with our energy. because we need it. literally.

without it, we would not be a superpower.

as gas prices go up, it only helps to make alternative energy more affordable.

http://www.newwindenergy.com/
http://www.stuartenergy.com/

our energy portfolio isn’t very diversified. and the things we use to move us, are dependent on that one thing, petroleum products.

and they shouldn’t be.

this is a design issue.

10

Another repeat hare-brained scheme again proving Einstein’s old-standing theory about human stupidity.

If it’s hard enough to get three people to agree on a single course of action, imagine 3 million!

Proof some live the most savage forms of capitalism every single day and still understand nothing of it.

11

“Arranged via Web sites and e-mails, flash mob members voluntarily and simultaneously converge to the venue mentioned in a general e-mail and then collect detailed instructions for the event. They partake in a silly and harmless activity and then disperse at a given time.”

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/08/04/flash.mob/

i was actually unaware that einstein had a theory about human stupidity. maybe you could enlighten me about it.

12

for anyone else that may happen to read this post, all i’m really asking for is help.

it really is comforting to know that people in the same industry as me are so eager to knock me down.

perhaps i would’ve been better off asking which smelled better: pantone or prismacolor markers.

i must have struck a nerve.

but i guess that’s a good thing.

anyway, if you’ve got some encouraging words, i’d love to hear what you may have to say.

if not, then save your energy.

you might need it.

just a message in a bottle…

13

I hope the gas price will hit close to $3.00 a gallon by the summer, maybe then Americans will stop buying those humonstrous mini-vans and trucks. And there will be less of unnecessary huge plastic everything.

The price for a gallon of gas in my country is the same as in the USA, but the standard of living is noticeably lower…and the oil sold in my country is extracted in my country… while the USA imports a lot of oil and the price of gas depends mostly on the exporters, but my country supplies daily about 5 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products to the global market, a little less than the world’s leading exporter, Saudi Arabia, and yet the price for a gallon of gas is the same.

The price of gas in the USA is too low (compared to the rest of the world), and trying to make it even lower won’t solve anything. It will just encourage the wastefulness of American culture.

14

be glad you aren’t in germany
it’s much more there

15

i heard that a ‘small’ change in the conventional combustion engine used in cars would allow them to burn corn oil or rape seed oil instead. i guess some major companies/governments are preventing this from happening ?

anyhow, there are a few companies that are providing the means to do it
check out this article…Straight vegetable oil as diesel fuel: Journey to Forever