The Cardboard bike needs no oil.
What is the best way to deal with high oil prices?
As both a motorist and cyclist, high oil prices are a mixed blessing. It now costs £6o to fill a tank of petrol; I have seen the proportion of my income spent on petrol rise considerably. However, rising oil prices have helped reduce the remorseless rise of traffic growth on the UK’s crowded roads.
Dealing With Higher Oil Prices
Cycling / Walking. As a consumer, higher oil prices increase the incentive to look for alternatives. 50% of all car journeys are under 4 miles. As an alternative to driving, walking or cycling can save considerable sums of money. In many city centres with high levels of congestion, cycling to work can also be much quicker. On this cycling blog, a former motorist tries cycling to work. As well as saving money, it was noticeably quicker. (try cycling to work) Also, cycling and walking will help improve the nations fitness and lead to lower levels of obesity.
Public Transport. For longer journeys, trains and coach travel provide alternatives. However, in UK train fares have increased above the rate of inflation. It is still cheaper to drive for most journeys. Nevertheless, if you book in advance, you can still save money on long journeys. Also, train travel gives you chance to relax or work – something you can’t do when driving.
High oil prices have only made a very small dent in the proportion of journeys made by car.
Fuel Efficient Cars. One welcome effect of the higher oil prices is that it has encouraged firms and consumers to choose more fuel-efficient cars. These cars have a higher miles to the gallon, leading to lower consumption of petrol and less emissions. The improvement in fuel-efficiency can offset the impact of higher oil prices. With high oil prices becoming a reality, more people will make this an important factor when buying a car.
Reduce fuel consumption when driving. When driving, there are various ways to reduce fuel consumption – make sure tyres have the correct pressure, keep to below 65mph. More tips to reduce petrol consumption
How Firms Respond to Higher Oil Prices
Higher oil prices encourage firms
- to develop cars which use alternative fuel
- Develop more fuel efficient cars.
The gap between the price of petrol cars and other forms of energy are dropping.
Benefits of Higher Oil Prices
- Higher oil prices help reduce levels of congestion which impose a significant cost on economy and lost time.
- Lower fuel emissions help reduce pollution
- Encouraging people to cycle or work saves time money and helps improve fitness (possibly lower costs to NHS from improved fitness)
- Encourages more fuel-efficient cars and provides the incentive to create alternatives.
Related
- 10 Reasons not to cut Petrol Tax
- Problems of Higher petrol prices
Making complete car boady as a Solar Cells and dual charge with electricity would be more benificial, leaving only clear glass area.
Americans are balking at the idea of having to lower their childish standards in order to go gasoline-free in their travels. I say that’s ridiculous! Where can I get a cute little solar powered car like the one pictured above and why are there not more street legal solar powered vehicles? American is in desperate need of just-a-car, but green. I’m talking about a very basic vehicle that has no thrills, no frills, just a car to get a person to work and back and do it without using any gas. Now that’s my image of a hot selling car. No wonder the American auto industry is in shambles. You don’t need glass packs and OnStar to have a fun and safe trip. We are so spoiled here, I swear!
make the entire road systems out of solar panels have the car tap into this network and drive on the panels, instead of panels on the cars
I dont see the point in the cardboard bike .. as soon as someone sits on it, it would completely fall apart!
I like both option Solar powered car & Cardboard bike.
I think if all think of these type of options than might we can solve bit pro of fuel.