“GAS bills for millions of homes will soar by 15 per cent to levels which have never been ‘seen or done before’, Britain’s biggest supplier warned yesterday. The rise will hit consumers across the UK who are already reeling from two major price hikes last year which saw bills increase by more than 18 per cent,” reports The Scotsman.
Last night, Graham Kerr, a spokesman for Energywatch Scotland, said the independent consumer watchdog expected to see a rise in people struggling to pay increased energy bills.
“There is only so much people can afford to pay before it becomes utterly unbearable. This impact will have a severe effect on people on low incomes who have to make daily choices on how to budget the limited funds they have.
Meanwhile, CBS Marketwatch headlines with “Oil tars U.S. Stocks. Shares see second straight
triple-digit loss on worries that crude prices will slow growth.”
And The Scotsman also leads with “Soaring oil prices prompt airlines to raise their fares: BRITISH Airways passengers are to be hit with a fifth fuel surcharge on tickets in little over a year after oil prices surged to a new high.”
How are rising energy prices hitting you?
The rest of The Scotsman story on gas prices is worth reading.
P.S. Are the red headlines tacky or jazzy?
Jazzy. I was just thinking of hitting ‘view page source’ in my Firefox browser in order to find the tags for future use. I’ve learned a lot that way. 😉
I like ’em!
I’m doing a little experiment this summer to see how little gas of any sort I can use. (l.) No a.c., or as little as possible. It’s in the 90’s here and I’m still comfortable without it, so maybe I can go all summer. I work at home, so if I need to I can take my laptop and work in a cool library or cafe. Hell, when it gets as high as 100, my house is stifling even with a.c. (2.)I had my gas turned off for the summer/fall, just to see if I can live happily with only cold water. So far, it’s no big deal since when you’re living without a.c. you want cool showers anyway! To wash my hair, I heat water on my electric stove, so that uses energy–I don’t know the trade-off. 3.)Making far fewer little car trips than I ever used to do. Making myself happy at home instead of restlessly wandering around town to amuse myself.
Hey, when you live alone you can be eccentric!
Of course, winter will be a different story, but I already keep my heat turned much lower than average and I like it that way.
Um, I should have said “gas and electricity.” Also leaving lights off a lot more, including ones I thought I absolutely had to have on. Keeps the house feeling (even if not actually) cooler, too. Etc.
Small question. . .does anybody know if it takes more energy to leave a computer on Standby or to turn it on and off? I read recently that all our appliances on Standby are using up tons of energy.
My husband said that years ago it used to be more cost efficient to leave a computer on standby, but with the newer computers he doesn’t think that is so any longer. Plugged in televisions eat up a lot of energy also I just recently found out. My husband says that most electronics now have presets and memories (things like that) that constantly undate, so plugged in TV’s continue to draw energy even when they aren’t turned on. Any kind of transformer/adapter continues to transform current also when it is plugged in…..it just sends back what it doesn’t use, and that can be very energy draining also.
Interesting. So does he recommend unplugging televisions at night, if you’re not recording anything during those hours?
and I’m ashamed to admit that I have been lazy about doing it. I do unplug though when we go on trips.
Tracy, this is so good you should put it up in a diary.
I’m curious like Kansas. I read somewhere the other day — I forget where — that if businesses turned off their computers at night and on weekends, they’d save hundreds of dollars a year in electricity charges.
good idea! I shall get with the man on it and do a diary. He is very knowledgeable about electronics, I have been blessed. Such a diary would be good since we are all bound to feel a crunch soon, I have noticed less extra cash in our checking account lately and could use the some efficiency reminders. We rarely run low but I think that the extra fuel cost and the extra cost of everything else lately is starting to show in our finances.
That would be great!
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Remove the spacing. Voila. Ditto other common colors.
If you want to get INTO Web browser-approved colors:
Do any combo from 00-99 and AA-FF.
E.g.: FFFFFF = white, 000000 = black
Then there are the rainbow of colors, based on variants of FF0000, FF00FF, CC99CC, etc., etc.
so that we minimize our use of electricity and natural gas (drier, stove, central a/c, hot water and furnace all gas-powered)– no window a/c this year, using fans instead; when temps drop turn central a/c off and open window.
As far as gasoline, last year replaced both cars with hybrids (Honda Civics). If gas prices soar, my recovery on investment will be quicker.
I tend to drive 5 MPH less than speed limits, and have found ways to maximize mpg — overall since buying the one I drive, mpg over 15,000 miles has been around 53, with a 2-1 ratio of highway to city driving.
I live far enough north (in Rochester, NY) that the big issue is winter heating bills. We have been replacing our storm windows, caulking windows and putting in weather stripping. It is amazing how the little things add up.
What worries me though is having extremely hot summers. Last summer we only used the AC once. It is v. nice to not use the AC in the summer, however, whenever we get a heat wave… and we seem to be getting more of those, don’t we?… the AC has to go on.
Peace.
The supply and demand situation is driving the price higher. Although there are speculators in the market, the reality is the market is deamanding more oil than the market produces.
There’s real concern about rising oil prices here in Switzerland, that it could severely slow the econonmy.
Overheating oil prices set to cool economy (Swissinfo)
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=161&sid=5895936&cKey=1119602506000
Switzerland only has about 7.5 million citizens, and prices effect small countries quickly.
How is Switzerland on energy efficiency?
Here’s an interesting intractive map system that shows a bunch of different metrics for the global community.
http://globalis.gvu.unu.edu/
According to their data, Switzerland (like most of western Europe) uses about half as much energy per capita as does the U.S. There are a bunch of reasons:
And more…
My office is here at home, so the gas prices hit me a little less than most people, but I have found myself actively trying to cut down on the little driving I do already. We belong to the local CSA, and that’s actally a bike-able distance from home, so I imagine I’ll be giving the bicycle pick-up a try one of these days.
The real killer for me is heating oil. It was exorbitantly expensive last winter at 189/gallon; it’s currently at 209/gallon. I have an older oil burner, and I’m debating switching over to an electric heat pump. Does anyone have any advice on this for me? I know NOTHING about heating and air conditioning stuff…
Investing in efficiency, fastest-payback items first, is a good approach to saving the most $$. There’s good info at:
RMI’s Home Energy Briefs
(particularly brief numbers 1,3,4, and 5 — all free-to-download .pdfs)
A snippet from #1:
Having said that, once various efficiency measures short of furnace replacement have been implemented, I don’t know much about HVAC equipment, either.
My daughter rents the upstairs of an older home. It’s so hot in there at night that she comes over here just go get away. She has several fans, and opens all the windows, but that only helps so much.
I’m wondering if dark drapes would help. Any ideas?
It’s tough when one rents, because there may not be a way to invest in building envelope improvements (i.e. better-insulated ceiling & attic, attic fan, etc.). Any chance the homeowner would do some upgrades?
Light-colored shades (reflecting light back out instead of absorbing it) are the best bet at the windows.
What’s the climate like where you’re located? If you’re in a dry climate, a standalone swamp cooler would help cool off the temperature. They’re less expensive to run than air conditioners, but only work in dry climates.
I spend my afternoons driving to the homes of my music students. The cost of doing this has increased dramatically. So far, because I have a small surcharge on my tuition specifically for travel, I’ve been able to keep up. But I’m acutely aware that music lessons are a luxury. If the cost gets too high, my students will become someone else’s, or no one’s. Most of the parents believe that music is important, and since the kids are no longer getting much in their schools, the parents will hang in as long as they can. But there is a limit…The way things are going I guess sooner or later I’ll find out what that limit is. Anyone else facing that kind of challenge? What are you doing about it?