Fossil fuels generally remain the most affordable sources of energy. How much more are you willing to pay for gasoline and electricity derived from renewable sources?
 Poll Archive | Next Question Would you accept higher taxes if the government used the money to invest in renewable energy? Energy and The EnvironmentComments (10)
Anything that helps free us from the Middle East stranglehold on oil 
I am an unemployed single mom of an eight year old girl have recently lost my job as it has been outsourced. I am tired of fuel costs being so high wth the only way I can even pay for it is with a charge card. I am tired of choosing between food and gas, gas or medicine , and food or medicine as well as paying for these dumb fuel surcharges for just about everything. Please do something but not out of corporate greed.
That speed limit thought is a really good idea. I've never really thought about it, but K Bryon brings up a good point that it is the most gas-efficient speed for our vehicles to operate. I wonder how much of a difference it would make in emissions though.
Yes, the speed limit idea is a good one, but so is the idea of investing more in alternative energy sources, in order to make them more widespread and bring the costs down. The initial cost would be moderately high, but after the first burst of funding, when companies see how much we the consumers support the idea of alt. energy, they will start working harder to find cheaper ways of getting it. My only concern is the way that the oil companies have acted in the past, when the electric car came out (watch "who killed the electric car?", Sony Pictures Home Entertainment 2006), and how that could come up again with any other found ways and attempts to market cheap, efficient, alternative energy solutions.
I don't think anyone is willing to pay anything more for energy from renewable sources. On paper it sounds nice and people play nice, but when it comes down to it there's a reason why companies like Wal-Mart exist. People want whatever is cheap!
As a young boy during WW II, I was told by a man that impressed me as the wisest man I would ever meet; that oil, coal, & natural gas were to be only temporary fuel supplies and we would run out in 75 or a 100 years. So all my life I knew this day was comming. I waited for a new fuel supply to be developed, or a new engine to deliver 80 or 90 percent fuel efficiency instead of the 10 or 12 percent we have been stuck with all this time, our automotive manufacturers and political leaders has failed to meet our needs.
I am personally willing to pay 50 % more for renewable fuels and electricity versus conventional. The basic prinicples of economics will quickly shift towards favoring renewable sources of energy production and conversion once people are given the choice of where they will spend their money. People so often forget just how much we are already paying for the many negative externalities associated with fossil fuel combustion. If these costs were factored into the price at the meter or pump, renewables would win hands down!!
If you're going to use precious resources you should pay.
Agreed. It's the basic law of supply and demand. The less there is of something the more valuable it should be in the market.
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If we would enforce a speed limit of 50/60 Miles per hour on the highways we could cut our fuel consumption a great deal.. trouble is we don't enforce our limits as it is
Posted by K BYRON CHORLTON | June 24, 2008 2:49 PM