• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

Solutions for high fuel costs?

jodywy

Well-known member
Selling a pretty moutain valley ranch for a very vaulgar price and replacing it with a grass ranch. The moutain ranch is 3+ton winter area, hay all summer feed all winter(long winter).
We got a place we looked at twice now, only 400 miles away. I a mile from the Idaho border this place is about 8 miles from the SD and Neb. State line. It would be a trade of 1 acre for 23, and 1AU for 3AU.Oh whith alot of money left over for anunity for Mom and another to buy the rest of my brothers and sister out.
this place ave less then 1/2 ton hay/cow/winter
 

Cal

Well-known member
jodywy said:
Selling a pretty moutain valley ranch for a very vaulgar price and replacing it with a grass ranch. The moutain ranch is 3+ton winter area, hay all summer feed all winter(long winter).
We got a place we looked at twice now, only 400 miles away. I a mile from the Idaho border this place is about 8 miles from the SD and Neb. State line. It would be a trade of 1 acre for 23, and 1AU for 3AU.Oh whith alot of money left over for anunity for Mom and another to buy the rest of my brothers and sister out.
this place ave less then 1/2 ton hay/cow/winter
So Jody, are we going to be neighbors?
 

IL Rancher

Well-known member
The market, when allowed to function free of government interference is a wonderfull thing. Gas is down at 2.29 at some stations... Diesel at 2.69 and both are falling fast...
 

jodywy

Well-known member
The ranch we are looking at is about 8 miles from SD and Neb border. But still got to get this place sold, thing are looking positive though
 

RoperAB

Well-known member
This was all predicted and discussed on Rutherford a month ago. These temporary lower gas prices are going to go back up shortly with the demand for home heating oil and or the first hurricane to hit the gulf.
Iran is also threatening to destroy its own oil fields in any conflict with the US.
Plus we are still paying$3.70 a gallon retail for gas in Alberta. Thats down from the $5 a gallon we where paying but thats still way to high and it will go up again :( .
 

Cal

Well-known member
RoperAB said:
This was all predicted and discussed on Rutherford a month ago. These temporary lower gas prices are going to go back up shortly with the demand for home heating oil and or the first hurricane to hit the gulf.
Iran is also threatening to destroy its own oil fields in any conflict with the US.
Plus we are still paying$3.70 a gallon retail for gas in Alberta. Thats down from the $5 a gallon we where paying but thats still way to high and it will go up again :( .
How much tax are you paying on that $3.70 gas?
 

RoperAB

Well-known member
Cal said:
RoperAB said:
This was all predicted and discussed on Rutherford a month ago. These temporary lower gas prices are going to go back up shortly with the demand for home heating oil and or the first hurricane to hit the gulf.
Iran is also threatening to destroy its own oil fields in any conflict with the US.
Plus we are still paying$3.70 a gallon retail for gas in Alberta. Thats down from the $5 a gallon we where paying but thats still way to high and it will go up again :( .
How much tax are you paying on that $3.70 gas?
Alberta has the cheapest gas in Canada because our provincial fuel taxes are low or non exsistant. Its the federal government that taxes it.
However I know and partially agree with what your going to say about cutting the Fereral tax on gas. However its not that simple because already the retail gas companies in Alberta have more mark up on gas compared to in other provinces because of the lower taxes in Alberta. I have to run
 

jodywy

Well-known member
katrina said:
Not only Cal for a neighbor, but me also... :wink:
but I'll miss my moutains.... not sold yet but got alot og people looking again.Momand I are going out with the trust to our tax man monday and get Dads estate settled. Should know by end of next week if we got a sale working or not.
 

Cal

Well-known member
RoperAB said:
Cal said:
RoperAB said:
This was all predicted and discussed on Rutherford a month ago. These temporary lower gas prices are going to go back up shortly with the demand for home heating oil and or the first hurricane to hit the gulf.
Iran is also threatening to destroy its own oil fields in any conflict with the US.
Plus we are still paying$3.70 a gallon retail for gas in Alberta. Thats down from the $5 a gallon we where paying but thats still way to high and it will go up again :( .
How much tax are you paying on that $3.70 gas?
Alberta has the cheapest gas in Canada because our provincial fuel taxes are low or non exsistant. Its the federal government that taxes it.
However I know and partially agree with what your going to say about cutting the Fereral tax on gas. However its not that simple because already the retail gas companies in Alberta have more mark up on gas compared to in other provinces because of the lower taxes in Alberta. I have to run
You want cheaper fuel, geuss you need to figure out how to make bio-diesel or something under the radar of the taxation police. Anyway, it doesn't always work as fast as we would like, but the laws of supply and demand, when allowed, work pretty well pretty much every time.
 

Steve

Well-known member
RoperAB: (on energy)
I gave you mine now lets hear yours?

other then allowing "more drilling", and "building more refineries', one can focus on diverting demand....

one such example, of reducing fuel demand is finding cost effective replacements... solar power while "costly" is getting cheaper, and more attractive....


when I rebuilt my home I considered solar because of the high amount of heat load I had to devert when putting a standard roof on my house, but due to the excessive cost (even after fed grants) I decided that a conventional roof would have to do...

the three main reasons against the solar roof were
1.cost...Over $40,000.
2. appearance,...the panels offered were ugly.
3. I live in a historic designated area,..in a historic home....and fighting them on other issues was fun enough.....

now a mere 8 years later the cost has dropped, and the appearance seems to be getting fixed....with a "little" goverment help, these could be put on most homes for about the same appearance as a conventional roof....

021708_large.jpg

http://www.oksolar.com/roof/

but that is only "one solution" to the demand side of the equation....
 

jodywy

Well-known member
Spent a couple nights out at a sheep ranch headquarters the last couple of years. This place is out in the high Wyoming desert and some of the building is from the overland stage company, there is no REA. There was a meat house thick wall, a diesel generator. The neighbor ranch some miles away put in wind, their generator turns on every couple of weeks just to keep the motor lubricated. This place was getting $40,000 together to put in wind.
 

Steve

Well-known member
This place was getting $40,000 together to put in wind.

with prices like that it is hard to justify switching......as the equipment life, and energy cost reduction do not give enough return to come close to equaling the outlay....

I believe many people would add wind and solar if the cost was reduced, and this could drasticlly reduce demand....
 

katrina

Well-known member
We have solar in our house on to town..And it is a big help....... I can't say you could go totally solar, but it sure helps and was one of the deciding points for giving an offer on the house....... Last year with the winter we had, our utilities were about a hundred dollars. And we keep it about 70 degrees when we are not there and warmer when we are. IF you keep it colder, it takes forever to warm up and cost more to do so we have found out..
 

Jinglebob

Well-known member
Cal said:
katrina said:
Not only Cal for a neighbor, but me also... :wink:

katrina, be careful, we'll scare him off. :lol:

Weeelll, according to what her avatar say's , she's east of Soapweed, so I don't think they would be real CLOSE neighbors. Nawwww, she ain't going to scare him off. :)

If you do think your going to get moved, Jody, you better start packing some rocks around in your hip pocket. You will need them for the wind. :wink: :lol:
 

RoperAB

Well-known member
Okay about wind power
The last outfit I worked for was looking into putting up a small windmill to generate electricity because electricity is extremely expensive now. We also live in an area that has high winds and lots of big commercial windmills.
The cheapest smallest windmill was over $125,000 and that was about 6 years ago.
About Bio diesel
Problem is that a new diesel truck costs $60,000 and up. Then your looking at another $3000 for a bio kit.
Two of my friends bought late model second hand diesels in the $30,000 to $35,000 price range. There both spending big bucks on these trucks tryioing to keep them in repairs and running right. Second hand diesels can be very expensive when you start having troubles. Plus up here you have to keep them plugged in all the friggen time in the winter so they will start which adds to your power bill. Plus I dont care what people claim I know better. These new high output diesels are not all that great on fuel. Yes better than a gas when hauling, but you sure would have to have a lot of work for an expensive truck like that to justify buying one.

One of the reasons our gas cost more up here is because of NAFTA and the exchange on the dollar. You see we sell our crude<let them drill> for a dollar a barrel. Haliburtons total cost per barrel is under $15. Then we buy it back from them at $65 a barrel or whatever it is going for today.

We dont have much refinery capibility up here. Plus under NAFTA the refinerys up here actually have to pay more for Alberta crude than what the refinerys in Louisiana pay for Alberta crude. They buy it for the same $US amount but because of the exchange on the Canadian dollar theyend up paying more.

There is no shortage of oil. When The price of crude goes down they keep drilling up here. Its just that they cap the wells off and leave them until the price goes back up. American oil companies are no better than OPEC.
 
Top