by Phil Romans
With the most recent quarterly statements from Exxon, I am feeling raped. With almost every American heavily dependent on oil, Exxon’s 58% increase in profit in the last quarter seems obscene and Exxon isn’t alone. Oil companies across the board have been booming while the rest of the country suffers in the economic downturn. Am I alone in wondering when we will have had enough and do something about it?
In my particular case, I, like most Americans, have to depend on gasoline to get to work whether I drive my car or ride a bus. My house is heated with fuel oil. The monthly cost right now to keep my thermostat at 60 degrees would be approximately $348 per month. It would go up in January and February when the temperatures generally drop. Between fuel costs and heating costs over 50% of my budget goes to the oil companies. Even if you don’t have a car or heat with fuel oil, you still bear the cost of high oil prices. If you buy groceries, you will be paying more as production costs rise due to high fuel costs for farmers and delivery.
Am I suggesting that we regulate prices or have the government intervene with profit taxes? No, I’m suggesting that we wake the hell up and realize that there are alternative sources of energy. We do not have to be totally dependent on oil whether it’s foreign or domestic. There are viable alternatives that could significantly reduce our oil dependence.
There is an 80 year old oil man from Texas who is crusading for change. His name is T. Boone Pickens and he has a plan. The Pickens Plan uses a combination of wind, solar and natural gas which can all be produced in the US to reduce our consumption of foreign oil.
The changes that Pickens is suggesting would not change our daily lives. We would not be driving solar or natural gas powered cars or heating our homes with solar panels. The plan uses wind & solar farms to produce a large percentage of our electricity and natural gas to power the commercial fleets of trucks that keep American produce on the move.
But a national shift in energy sources is not enough in my opinion. We all need to take a look at the way we live and the things we take for granted. As a nation, we regularly waste energy. We drive big inefficient cars, we think nothing of driving a few miles to pick up what we forgot on our grocery trip instead of doing without for a day, we leave lights on, we throw a pair of jeans in the dryer to dewrinkle them, and the list goes on.
I am just as guilty as the next person although my energy costs are high enough that I do make a conscious effort to conserve. I still find myself making extra trips back to the store even though I drove by it on the way home from work. When my favorite pair of jeans are wet, I will throw them in the dryer rather than wearing something else and hanging them out to dry. I forget and leave lights burning in rooms that I have left.
These small things do not add up to much in my monthly budget. They might increase my energy costs by one or two percent. They won’t break my bank on a personal level but if you start adding the costs up in your town or in your state or even in the country, a two percent drop in energy consumption is significant.
So what can you do? Be informed. Check out the Pickens Plan. Write your elected officials and let them know that you are tired of our country being enslaved to foreign oil. Be conscious of your own personal use of energy and try to find ways to reduce it.
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Tags: economy, frugal living, fuel costs
I wouldn’t throw the term raped around so freely. America is hardly helpless and Exxon is hardly forcing you to use their products. Please show better judgment in the words you use.
Rape – an act of plunder, violent seizure, or abuse; despoliation; violation: the rape of the countryside.
The word was carefully considered before I used it. If I was going to question the title, it would have been using Exxon as an example when it is all oil companies, not just one.
Do you really believe that we have a choice in whether to use oil products? Most of us don’t live within walking distance of work, most of us are forced to buy groceries at the store that have been produced with oil products, delivered with oil products and the costs have been driven up by oil products. Most of us are as dependent on oil as we are on electricity. We don’t have a choice in whether to use it or not; we can only choose to reduce our use of it.
Well said, Cindy.
It sickens me that Exxon’s profits were that high. I no longer believe any of that price per barrel/foreign oil conjecture they try to explain away the high prices with. Bottom line, it’s the greedy American oil companies who are benefitting, with such outrageous profit margins. Makes me mad enough to want to quit using oil altogether just to stick it to ‘em.
I believe we can all work to cut back on our oil and energy usage, both at home AND in the workplace, and see our dependence as a nation drop considerably.
My husband is part of a “Green Team” at the school where he teaches. He was trained to look for ways that his campus could reduce their expenses for electricity alone…it was amazing how much the district was spending per school that was unnecessary. (This training opened our eyes for things in our own home, too).
Hot plates, microwaves and such that many teachers had in their classrooms were HUGE electricity wasters, as were coffee pots and VCR/DVD players with lighted clock features that remain plugged in in teacher lounges and classrooms. The school already employed the use of auto-off lights and other cost-saving measures, but there were still plenty of ways to tighten their belt, so-to-speak.
Simple things like teachers using a thermos to bring their own coffee (needing to heat it only once instead of re-heating it in the microwave at work a few times per day, for instance), along with employing power strips to plug everything in their classrooms into which can be unplugged or switched off at the days end can also help to defray excess energy costs. The same techniques can be employed at home to save energy dollars.
This year we also made the major lifestyle adjustment of having our older son quit attending the school he had attended since Kindergarten in favor of going to a new school on the same campus where my husband teaches. It’s not only saved us gas on the previous commute, but I don’t need to go too many places being a stay at home mom and child care provider, and my husband passes several grocery stores on his way home where he can stop off for sale priced goods without extra trips. It’s saving us a fortune!
Very nice entry and one that has me pondering my own resourcefulness. We’re very careful about our electricity and gas consumption but can do more to cut back..as can most Americans. Thanks for such a nice entry!