Winter, High Oil Costs Cause Global Chills

[Thom Little]

Long underwear in South Korea, extra sweaters in U.S. classrooms, rising sales of wood-burning stoves in Denmark. Winter is here, and because of a spike in heating costs, people from Tokyo to Toledo are looking for alternatives to oil.

Heating oil and other energy prices are up to 40 percent higher than three years ago. That translates into bad news for Northern Hemisphere consumers whose budget is already stretched by a summer of high prices at the gasoline pumps

.......

In the United States, some school districts have written to parents asking them to dress their children in an extra sweaters to compensate for lowered thermostats in classrooms.

"We are asking kids to layer, to bring in a sweatshirt in case you get a colder room," said Beth Wagger, spokeswoman for Fairfield City Schools in southwest Ohio's Butler County. Similar letters went home in New York state school districts, where increased energy prices are translating into a projected budget shortfall of some $96 million.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WORLD_HEATING_WOES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-11-25-06-15-40

[lovelaureng]

1. This is sadly pathetic. nt

[Indy Lurker]

2. Now it all makes sense

"That translates into bad news for Northern Hemisphere consumers whose budget is already stretched by a summer of high prices at the gasoline pumps"

This must be why we need global warming, to keep the Northern Hemisphere toasty.

[Boomer]

6. If only it worked that way

Global warming describes an average figure, but the specifics are extreme temperatures of heat AND cold. Broiling hot summers, frigid winters, and little spring or fall in between.

Year-round fun for all!

[WePurrsevere]

3. NNY Heating Oil - $2.37 gal... we pay less for gasoline then oil to heat

our homes. It has increased about 30 - 40% since just this past Spring. When you go through about 150 gallons a month and your heating season is about 6 to 7 months... that adds up rather quickly. Now add to that folks who, like us, are on a fixed income and it's downright frightening.

There's some help (HEAP) available for lower income but our IDIOTS in Congress want to cut that so the RICH can have their damn tax breaks. Then there are those who make just a tiny bit too much. They barely have enough income to make just the basic "ends" meet but aren't poor enough for assistance... those people fall through the cracks and no one seems to care.

Although we have a dual furnace that uses wood and oil we're finding we're having varying problems breathing with the wood smoke going through the ducts so we're going to check into filters and possibly adding electric silicone filled radiators to use instead of oil and save the wood for if the power goes out.

Quite frankly I'm more then a bit worried not just for us... I have to believe that we'll survive somehow... but for all of those others who are already struggling to survive up here. It's early yet and will only get worse until Spring. :(

edited to add:
My DH corrected me.. it's actually $2.369 a gallon so I changed it to round up instead of down.

Also... We're not just stretched thin because of the gas prices over the Summer. The bill we paid at the checkout at the Grocery store increased quite a bit as well. When GAS goes up FOOD prices go up, ALL prices go up. Sadly businesses need to pass on to consumers their increase in costs due to higher gas prices. I will give our local markets credit however... they have done a decent job at trying to keep those increases as low as they can for this area.

[oneighty]

5. Wood smoke

going through your ducts? Your heat exchanger might be defective. Please have the furnace checked and make sure your carbon monoxide alarm is working. If you do not have a CO detector you must consider getting one.

Good luck.

180 western new yorker.

[FloridaPat]

7. $360 is about what I was paying for heat in Syracuse when Reagan

deregulated natural gas. The bill went from $80 a month in the winter to $360. I was in Iowa for the winter about 4 years ago and people were paying $800 a month to heat their house. It sure would be nice to have a government that cared about it's people and had ideas to keep them warm and fed without gouging them

Why is heating oil more expensive than gasoline? Someone's making money there. I did notice diesal is now more expensive than gas at the pumps.

Best of luck to you this winter. Hopefully it will be a warm one. My brother still lives in Syracse and has natural gas. He won't discuss his heating bills.

[brokensymmetry]

4. Welcome to peak oil.

And this is just the first whiff of a great banquet of consequences.

[vonslagle]

8. Cheap Oil

Is the reason why it's so cold in the first place.

Artifically low prices caused greedy Americans to burn up every ounce they could get their fat little hands on, causing Global Warming and colder winters.

I wouldn't mind if the price went up to a hundred bucks a gallon. That's the only way we're ever going to save the Earth.