Music

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Chris Litts

Ms. Freeman

College Composition

Final Project

December 1, 2005

Higher Gas Prices: Effects and Solutions

Gas prices have been increasing astronomically within the past two years. People are starting to worry about how they are going to continue to do necessary things that require gas. Heating your house in the winter is getting very expensive. Driving to work is getting very expensive as well. Hybrid cars are becoming increasingly popular as they offer better gas mileage. Trucks and larger vehicles are not used as much because of the ridiculous cost of filling your gas tank. Another thing people are starting to wonder is, where are the alternatives? Why can't we have electrics cars? Or, why don't they make vehicles that have better fuel efficiency? There are alternative solutions available, such as the Honda HybridÐ'--a half gas-powered, half electric-powered carÐ'--that gets about 50 miles per gallon. Not only is everyone worrying about car problems, but also household gas bills as well. No one wants to admit it but people are going to have to start making sacrifices even though they don't want to. Maybe it isn't the sacrifices that are upsetting, but the idea that their lifestyle is going to have to change. The American lifestyle is a

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very routine, set way of life that doesn't change a whole lot every day; and now that changes are being suggested, people are starting to complain.

With gas prices going up people are having to make sacrifices to make the difference in the extra money they spend just to get to work. For example, "the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has seen average weekday bus and metro rail boardings jump from 1.4 million in June 2004 to 1.5 million in June of this year. July figures also are expected to be up." (Armour 2005) Carpooling and public transportation will probably become increasingly more popular. Normally people don't carpool because it is slightly inconvenient and different. Again, people are not used to or like changes. Now, however, the cost of going anywhere is making everyone consider possible alternatives.

There are alternatives to gas for fueling cars. There are electric cars, or cars that are partly each. The Honda Hybrid is becoming a very popular car: "A hybrid vehicle combines a gasoline-powered engine with an electric motor to provide increased gas mileage and help lower emissions." (www.automobiles.honda.com) The Honda Hybrid gets 49 city/51 highway miles per gallon. Even though the car costs 21,000 dollars, the high gas prices make it worth your money in the long run to get such good gas mileage. Toyota also has a hybrid car, called the Toyota Prius. The Prius gets 60 city/50 highway/55 average miles per gallon, is approximately the same price as the Honda version. Car sales are going down a lot too. Less and less people are buying SUV's and more people are starting to get smaller more fuel efficient cars. SUV sales have been

Litts 3 reportedly going down while companies that don't rely so heavily on larger vehiclesÐ'--HondaÐ'--have had increased sales. (Chon 2005) Hybrids are becoming increasingly popular as a way to beat the high gas prices.

There are also alternative sources of energy for house bills