Don't sweat it, dude, it's not your fault, you can't fight thousands of years of the basic laws of supply and demand.
As cost rises, consumption falls.
The opposite holds true.
The cost of energy, by using either a CFL or a TCH, falls due to it's efficiency, thus leading to an increase in consumption (usage).

 

I don't necessarily agree with this. I think back to when I was a kid and how many times my dad used to yell at us kids. "Turn those lights off" "Dont stand there for five minutes in front of the refrigerator with the door open" I don't think that energy costs were higher back then, even adjusted for inflation.

I think that when it's YOU paying the bills then it becomes a whole lot more of a priority. As the cost of everything rises in this tight economy but the rate of pay stays stagnant, the relative cost goes up.

It costs twice as much to drive a car that gets 30 MPG as it does to drive one that gets 60 MPG. At $2.50 a gallon that is about $20 a week more but when gas hits $4.00 a gallon it jumps to $32 a week more. That means no morning coffee at Dunkin for my wife. That is a realistic example of the impact on her life.

I made up a chart to show my wife how this works, unfortunately it doesn't transfer over into a post too well.... I know that if I get a Hybrid she'll probably end up taking it instead of her car for running up to the store and such, not so much for the fact that it would be a lot more efficient than her car but because I'm the one paying to fill it up.....

 

No difference. The cost of gas is simply not a consideration in the amount that I drive. I won't make more trips to the store to buy single items, even if gas were free. I won't take fewer driving vacations of 4000 Km either, even if gas goes up.

Obviously, there are limits to anything: If the cost goes up to the point where its really financially prohibitive (impacting my ability to feed,clothe, and house my family), that's another story - but at that point, there would be many other serious quality of life considerations to be made.

 

I'm with rmorrow, I don't worry about the cost of gas. I didn't when we were driving the Explorer and I don't now.

I won't drive just for the sake of driving, if I need something, then I will go and get it. Will I think about combining trips to save on fuel, no. Will I think about combining trips to save time, sometimes.

At $2/liter or $8/gal, i might start worrying about it, but right now I fill up every 3 weeks if I don't leave the city . . .

 

I currently have two vehicles -- a minivan (18 mpg) and a new hybrid SUV (26 mpg).

If I need to haul something messy or large, i take the minivan.

Because I have a bike rack on the SUV, if parking will be difficult, i take the minivan.

For long trips, I take the SUV.

When shopping, I like to visit several stores on a trip to minimize total driving distance, but my SO gets irritated when the stops get too numerous or the stores have nothing that she is interested in.