Fuel and Energy Alternatives

Pirates raiding ships have been in the news off and on in recent years. It’s been steady, but nothing really high profile. It’s probably passed underneath many peoples radar. This week though, the price of gas climbed $1 a barrel on news that a large oil tanker had been captured by Somali based pirates. After reading that linked article. It sounds as though, we’re seeing something not too different from the Barbary Coast Pirates of old (first overseas expedition of the US Marines (“To the shores of Tripoli”…))

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Today I saw gas under $2.50 a gallon ($2.46 to be exact.) So, the price is still working it’s way down. I’m hoping it will get down another 20-30 cents by Thanksgiving.

On the downside for some people, I have seen news stories of people that “locked in” heating oil prices back in the summer because “everyone knows that the prices will keep going up.” Unfortunately for these people they took a risk and will be paying the price with higher heating oil and fuel costs this winter. This is no different from the oil futures market speculation. Sometimes you put your money where your prediction is and you get burned.

In the Asheville area of North Carolina we seem to be recovering from the recent shortages quite well. I’ve seen a few places selling gas for as little as 2.99 a gallon or so which is the first time in a while we’ve been on the low side of 3 dollars per gallon. I’m seeing news reports that this is a national trend and hopefully we’ll all be seeing the price down in the low 2 dollars per gallon soon. I know the current economic uncertainty is having some bearing on the matter, but lower gasoline prices really should help our overall economic situation as it cuts costs for people that need to 1) get to work or 2) need to move goods from point a to point b among other things.