Are the oil prices affecting you?

On my way to work this morning I stopped at a local gas station to put some air in my front bike tire (see photo above). I had to take a photo since the garage had a little moped in it instead of a car - sign of the times.

While there I got into a conversation with the station owner about the price of oil/gas. He had an interesting tip for those of us that heat our houses with oil: you can hook up your hot water heater with electricity so that you don't have to use any oil until the cold months come.

Obviously this is not a solution - but every little bit helps these days. Since I do not drive much, the price of gas does not make a big impact on my daily life. But my apartment is heated with oil and I felt the price increase this past spring when I had to re-fill the tank - OUCH! And like everyone else, I have felt the ripple effects with the increase in food costs and my vendors' fees.

Below are some excerpts from today's Globe article by Erin Ailworth.

The increase will have an especially dramatic impact on the nearly 1 million households that are heated with oil, which now sells for about $4.70 a gallon, up from $2.59 a year ago, according to the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources.

Heating costs are expected to keep rising, the report says. The state's average household oil bill next year could top $3,000, according to the report by the UMass Donahue Institute, a university think tank. All told, consumers can expect to spend $4.45 billion for gas and oil heat in 2009 - a $469 million increase from 2008.

....

"Maybe the people who are very, very wealthy won't bat an eyelash. But for the regular people who are working from paycheck to paycheck and week to week, and don't have anything in the bank account, this is devastating," said Joseph P. Kennedy II, chairman of Citizens Energy Corp., a Boston-based nonprofit. Kennedy's company provides discounted oil to low-income residents and senior citizens. To help reduce bills, he said, the state should create an energy bank to finance energy-efficient home improvements.

An energy bank - that is an interesting idea. I also like the carbon taxes. We have a lot of work to do - time to get busy!

As always, if you have any interesting programming ideas, please let us know. We are booking speakers and workshops for the April Down:2:Earth event.