How will your life change when gas reaches $6 a gallon?

[Lincolnian]

I went to a party last night. Oil bills were a big topic of conversation. My friend paid $3.89 per gallon last week. $875 for 225 gallons. Ouch!!!

Another friend of mine bought a historic home two years ago. They are now paying $1500 a month to keep the house at 60 degrees. They can't change the windows because of historic restrictions. One whole salary is going to just to pay for oil and gas for the cars.

A lot of the people living in my city in affordable housing can't afford the heat because these less expensive homes were built in the early 1900s and are not energy efficient. With plaster walls, and less than tight construction they are extremely expensive to heat. Since many of the people living in them are renters, and the rent prices don't support the cost of the landlord investing in the property to upgrade the energy efficiency of the homes, the occupants either freeze or are paying huge heating bills and cutting back on other things like food.

At $6 per gallon for gas and/or oil many of the bottom 50% of the income spectrum will be immobilized.

The time is now for alternative energy development and US self-sufficiency!

[j33]

Lincolnian - no kidding about those old turn of the century apartments. I live in a building restricted by historic property law (it was built in 1875) but thankfully my landlord found a way to get permits to replace the windows to make them more energy efficient (which I'm sure was only done because she lived in the building as well), but it is still a pretty inefficient apartment when it comes to such things (e.g. the mail slot in the front door allows a lot of cold air to get in, and I can't very well tape off my mailbox can I?). I've lived in much worse apartments too, apartments where you could see through the gaps in the window sills, and once where the weather stripping was so poor that I came home to a snow drift in my kitchen (I went to the Home Depot the very next day and fixed the problem myself).

I feel bad for those who are stuck in old apartments who have very little choice but to throw their money out the window for heating. There is only so much that can be solved by covering the windows in plastic.

[elduderino38]

How will your life change if gas reaches $6 a gallon?

Will you limit your kids' after school activities? - No kids

Will you sell your 10 mpg truck or SUV? I get 25/30. Next move is an electric car and solar house.

Will you move to the inner city? - I'm already there!