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Loading...What Makes Gas Cost So Much? The Washington Post Examines Some Myths
It seems like the price of a gallon of gas capriciously fluctuates, and that any excuse out there is a chance for the price to go up. Speculation, new battles in the Middle East, the time of year, anything can create that perfect storm that will make you pay more and more at the pump.
But many of the things we think go into the price of our gas are actually just in our heads. It’s not who is in charge, it’s not where we are fighting, it’s not even the need to break into our oil reserves. The Washington Post debunks all of those.
But the most important myth to break? The idea that we can’t break our dependency on cheap, plentiful gas.
Via The Washington Post:
Yes, Americans love to drive, and Americans love cheap gas. But across an ocean, there’s a continent filled with people a lot like us who’ve lived with high gas prices for years. They’re called Europeans.
While U.S. gasoline heads toward $4 per gallon, Europeans have been paying much higher prices for years because of high taxes on fuel. This month in Britain, gas hit 6 pounds, or about $9.76, per gallon. Because gas is so dear, Europe’s per capita energy use is half that of the United States, leaving Europe less vulnerable to oil price shocks yet not undermining its citizens’ standard of living.
The United States, built on cheap oil, is much less densely populated than the Old World, with more wide-open spaces to traverse. But that doesn’t mean we can’t embrace some of the things that have helped Europeans keep their gasoline bills down — such as high-speed rail, public transportation and green energy.
In fact, Americans have shown that they can adjust their behavior when faced with sticker shock at the pump. As gas prices rose from $2.31 per gallon in 2005 to $3.30 per gallon in 2008, sales of the Toyota Prius eclipsed those of the Ford Explorer, and public transit use reached a 50-year high. When it costs $30 to fill up a Geo Metro with regular, all options are on the table.
The price of gas depends on what we are willing to pay — and we pay with a lot more than money. Only once we change that will we be able to move away from gas.
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70 comments
+ add your ownEurope is a continent, the US is a country. This article was a waste of time. The rise in gas prices is probably political. Let's just open our wells and drill in Alaska. We have the resources; we need to use them. And we should keep looking for alternatives.
The article was disappointing to me because it didn't mention bicycle transport as a major alternative to using a car. Most car trips are less than 3 miles which is easily done on a bicycle. It makes you healthy and costs less to use a bicycle for your personal transport. The bicycle is the most efficient transport vehicle ever invented. Pneumatic tires and asphalt roads were created for bicycles.
It's so difficult to see the prices rise what feels like every couple of days...if its true that measures can happen to stop this, why isn't that happening? i'm don't know all the details behind this, but this is coming at a time when people's way of life financially have been changed.
Doesn't anyone have the power to change this pattern that seems will just continue?
I'd say that many if not most people are being affected by the continuous price increases in gasoline.
There are so many controls for so many other areas, don't know why this can't be an area to be resolved. Feel free to enlighten me.
Actually the reason gas costs so much is due to investor speculation in the oil commodities market...you can thank the commodities Modernization Act for allowing investors to drive up the cost...there is absolutely NO REASON for oil to jump up when there are hurricanes, the war in libya on an on....please note the oil companies have earned record profits during these natural disasters.
Thanks for the article.
Oil price rises, nearly next day gas price rises. Oil price drops, gas price doesn't drop so fast... Weird relationship at least...
One thing I never hear the average america talk about is the concept of "Peak Oil", which some petroleum geologists believe occured in the US in the early 1970's.
In a story by the AP yesterday, it was reported that Jack Gerard, CEO and president of the American Petroleum Institute said of all the oil wells in the Gulf, that weren't being used, "the majority of these leases are always turned back because we can not find resource in commerical quantities".
Perhaps "peak oil" has much validity, which many americans don't want to hear because they are so used to being pandered to.
Melody M.
since this is the field i work in and our company owns ans operates 4 refineries the cost of complying with the epa guide lines are a damn joke. just ask this yahoo of a person you call president he shuts down our oil drilling and then goes to brazil is going to give them billions to start there drilling and then told them we cant wait to buy it from you. i give obama the 1 figer salute because he just screwed me you and the working oil man .
@ KayL
No. 15% is not an awfully big chunk of what you pay for "gas", it's a trivial amount compared to the 200% we put up with in the UK. However, it does mean that an increase in the price of crude will result in a noticeable percentage rise in what you pay at the pump whereas in the UK it doesn't make such a difference because it is dwarfed by the tax.
The republicans won't have anything to do with high speed rail. We had our chance in Wisconsin, and no, Walker turned it down. Now that it's probably too late, he's petitioning the federal government for a $150mil grant to work on the current Amtrak rail that is already established to upgrade it to a high speed rail...
Thing is, I'm the one who suggested that back when Governor Stalker was running. I have the blog about it somewhere... Anyway, if it's their ideal they'll run with it. But seriously, it's no use trying to reason with this guy, he won't listen to his own constituents, and I don't have $43,000 to give him, because I'm not part of the Koch group.
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