Special K

scary thought is that AMERICAN commodities traders are making as much money as the OPEC nations.

bend over & grab your ankles..........more to come!

74Formula233

There's no road tax on diesel at the dock tho, at least not in RI......so the cost isn't what it is at the road pump.

There is, however, road tax on gasoline at the dock. The'll probably be fairly comparable in price this year.....we'll see.

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demonfish

In 1979 we had a diesel Volkswagen pickup that got 48 miles to the gallon.It was a dirty diesel but still 48 to the gal. Tell me they cant clean up that engine and get the same mpg today. Things have got to change in this country. Maybe if we take away middle America's supersize fries we'll piss them off enough to revolt. Its time to bring back the 1960's when people werent afraid to protest and riot. If ever a president needed to be shot at its this bonehead, who went on t.v. and claimed he had no knowledge of fuel reaching $4.00. Trouble is we have no good three named assasins anymore. : shade:

Scup

Bob and Mag,

I pretty much know what I am doing when it comes to wood heat. I installed 50,000 BTU wood furnace when my home was being built. A properly installed wood furnace we find is far more comfortable as source of heat than oil. I was smart enough not to install an oversize wood furnace as then you would have to damp it down most of the winter (so it does not drive you out of the house) and just have it build up unnecessary creosote. On the coldest winter nights I have experienced over the last thirty years, old woodie has always been able to keep my home at least 64 degrees. This time of the year we usually fire it off the last thing before going to bed and may throw a log or two in when we wake up if it is necessary. Everything seems to happens slowly with wood heat as there are no drafts, no smells, just a gentle nice warming effect. When I come in after shoveling snow, it is nice to hug the output hot air duct for a minute or two. Most of the approximately 15 to 20 cords I am sitting on right now I have never paid a penny for. If a neighbor is contracting a pro to down some dangerous hardwood trees on their property, I tell them to get the lowest estimate possible from the pro, with the stipulation they would not have to clean up afterwards. Two men with a cherry picker can easily down 20 large/moderate sized trees, assuming special problems do not exist, in a day. The real time waster for them is the clean up. The no cleanup stipulation could easily reduce a 6K job to something less than half of that. I then come in and clean up afterwards to the owners satisfaction. The owner saved big $$$ and I do not have to worry about dropping a tree on my head. I might have to make a couple of trips to the town dump with bush but even at the dump it becomes a fifty-fifty proposition that I will coming back with more firewood. The negative thing about wood is you need a back up system when you go on vacation.

JackC

Just a fast comment on wood heat - I agree that cordwood is not the answer to our energy crisis. If you look at the amount of "scrap wood" that is generated in the US, we could fuel a large amount of alternative energy in the US. All the shoreline towns in CT have contractors come in and chip wood waste up to be used as landscape cover. Have you ever looked at the amount of wood waste after a major hurricane in the south or mid atlantic (all dragged off to landfill). If the US put some incentives in place to drive up the pellet production (not linked to oil cost) you would see some market influence with oil prices. I do think that Bush administration does not really care since they are out of power. The "right" better wake up to reality.

Pellets have always been available but always linked to oil prices, we need to BREAK the relationship. Better pellet stoves seem to get high ratings (look on hearthnet.com). The price of pellets always follows oil prices but local government pay to get rid of waste wood. (a bit weird)

If wood pellets work for heating the US should start a program to convert the colder areas over to pellet heat with pellet stoves MADE in the USA and pellets made based on real cost, no link to oil costs. When enough of the US is out of work perhaps the government will WAKE UP. The same could be said of coal versus oil - with some type of controls in place to make the market free of the greed factor.

What no one brought up is that the OPEC countries are practicing price fixing which would be illegal in the US. The speculators are using the price fixing to help drive up the futures which are basically going to push us into a deeper and deeper recession. Supply and demand comes into play as well but speculation and the decline of the dollar as not helping.

Unfortunately, I think we have a few crappy economic years coming. (Hopefully I'm wrong.)

Jack