Well, it seems to be right on the mark most of the time. Just enter your zip code and it finds the lowest reported prices in your area.

http://autos.msn.com/everyday/gasstatio ... =&src=Netx

Mine came up as the 99 cent taco at Taco Bell?

See how accurate it is, Larry!!!!!


On a related subject, I'm curious what people around here are trying to reduce their dependence on carbon-based fuels. I've tried to do a few things... first, I walk to work most days... my car has been known to sit in the driveway for over a week at a time. (So far this year, I've put 950 miles on the car... while in previous years I'd average around 12-15K miles for the year.... though now I'm not driving to the Church almost every weekend.)

I've also changed almost every light bulb in my apartment to compact fluorescent bulbs. I haven't stopped cooking, so I still use gas for that, but I keep the heat set at around 67 when I'm home and around 60 when I'm out.... and I shut off the heater at the beginning of this month (even though we're still getting some night temps around freezing).

I'm buying those energy-saving light bulbs when I get paid on Friday. We don't have the heater on much so we have little space heaters that are good enough for a few minutes when I first get out of the shower. And, of course, I got rid of my huge Mercury and now only drive my Subaru. I don't cook much, usually have cereal or yogurt. I try to remember to turn off the water when I'm wiping down the stove and countertops, but that's still hard for me to get used to doing. I do turn off the water while brushing my teeth, tho. (and I also cap the toothpaste

I sold my gas-guzzling politically incorrect SUV...and replaced it with a minivan that gets 23 MPG. I still need to be able to haul a lot of stuff around (I still do flowers for weddings and stuff, and need the room for delivering big arrangements) but since we sold the camper, we didn't need a tow vehicle anymore.

I kept my personalized "zippety-doo-dah" plates...I had 'em transferred to the new car.

We replaced our heat pump with a modern efficient one...our power bills have been reduced by 1/3. We replaced our water heater a couple of years ago, and that also reduced the power bill...both kids also moved out, so we're not heating water for my son's 45 minute showers anymore. We keep the thermostat at 62 when we're sleeping or gone...67 if we're awake and home. If we're cold, we put on more layers or go get a blanket (or cat!).

I tend to cook enough for a couple of meals for Jim and myself, so the second night we're just heating things for minutes in the microwave...instead of using the electric stove or oven for a couple hours.

All the light bulbs in the house are gradually being replaced by the florescent ones.

We do what we can...we also recycle all newspapers, glass, cans and bottles. We recycle clothing and household stuff at Goodwill so it has a chance at another life somewhere else.

We cook enough to have leftovers for another meal too. Saves time & trouble & reheating & I try to cook good diabetic friendly stuff. We recycle some too. We used to take the papers to the churches with paper recycling but they don't seem to have the recycling there anymore so we take 'em down to the courthouse. We recycle drink cans too. We take them to Mikes cousins hubby & he sends them in for recycling where he gets paid for them. He takes the money he gets from it & sends it to help out missions like the one helping out hillbillies in Appaliachia.

There is a gas site similar to the one ya'll posted but is for VA. I think you can access it off of ch 12's website. www.nbc12.com

We replaced almost all of our incandescent light bulbs with CFLs a few years ago. The first thing we noticed was a substantial drop in our electric bill. We only have two 60 watt incandescent flood light bulbs on a motion detector that need to turn on immediately in all temperatures. CFLs don't do well in cold weather. Takes 'em a bit of time to warm up to full brightness and the continual on/off of a motion detector can, supposedly, burn them out faster.

Hopefully, the prices will come down and the availability go up on those new LED bulbs. They use even less energy than CFLs but they are very expensive and I heard that the light output is not that great at this point in their development.

We still have our politically incorrect gas guzzling SUV but it doesn't get driven unless absolutely necessary. Town is about 12 miles away so no quick trips to store--a phone call or email with a grocery list to DH at work (11 miles away so walking is out plus he sometimes needs to drive to other counties during the day) works great. Major shopping is 30-40 miles away so those trips make good use of the space in the car or truck for us, our youngest daughter and my sis. In summer I grow organic veggies. Have barrels to collect rain water from roof for garden. House temp is kept way down, I usually forget to turn it up to 65 during the day after it's been off at night (I think the thermostat can be programmed but I haven't found that round tuit yet). Having been hikers, we know how to layer clothes and keep warm when necessary. Kitchen & laundry appliances have been changed to energy star/efficient. Would eventually like to get on demand hot water system and get rid of water heater. Going solar would be great but a school district retiree doesn't bring in big bucks and DH took a 40% cut so we could move east. We recycle the usual items.

Dubya is doing his part by being in the dark pretty much all of the time.......

While they are great at saving power, they contain mercury. Please dispose of them at a facility that is set up for them, and never dispose of them in your household trash can.

I am guessing that you're referring to the compact fluorescent bulbs... yes I knew that, and should have mentioned it earlier. Thanks for the reminder!

I pretty much took that as a given due to it being a well known "rule" at our "tranfer station" (Formerly known as "the dump". Wow! That would complicate the telling of "Alice's Restaurant", huh? "This transfer station closed on Thanksgiving!" Just doesn't have the same flow!). We also bought a smaller microwave that uses half the wattage of our old one, got new toilet that uses less water and put a timer switch on the bathroom fan.

I don't know if it will work with american toilets, but over here if you want to decrease the amount of water flushed down, you can put a brick in the water tank. We also have a little "thing" one can put inbetween the showerhead and the flexible tube which will reduce the amount of water that flows through to half. You won't even notice the change when you take a shower.

Here in South East Queensland we are on level 6 water resrictions. Each household is only allowed to use 140 litres (36.98 gallons) per person per day. Use of hoses is forbidden. You can use a bucket to keep plants alive. Luckily we have been getting some good rain but the total capacity of our dams in the SE (Queensland is twice the size of Texas)is about 38%
The area of SE Qld is about 22,420 sq klm (I think about 9,000 sq miles)
and holds about two thirds of Qld's pop.


The weather here is such that we only have a few cold months. We grow our own firewood and have one of those fires with the glass door.
According to New Scientist mag the smoke from wood fires is not as bad as once thought, if you use the right kind of wood. We have gas cooking and hot water (we have gas bottles so turn the gas off if away). But we will sometime in the near future go solar. We cook some on the woodstove in winter (stews and stuff) Overnight or when we're away the only powerpoint thats turned on at the wall (we have switches here next to the socket you plug into that turns them off and on) is the fridge. Nothing is left on standby,TV DVD player etc. No clock radios or stereos computer left on when not in use. We only turn the microwave on to cook rolled oats in the morning.
We usually only have one or sometimes two lights on in the evening.All this and more saves money and the environment.
My only vice is my 1982 Landcruiser. It is kept in exellent running order by my beloved and it has pulled my horses and our boat around for many years and given us much pleaser since we can go camping in the bush and at the beach in areas most people can't get to. I will probably get a new vehicle in about 4 years when I retire (my Cruiser will be 30 then) I will keep it for work around our property and get a double cab ute (pickup) that we can put a canopy on and sleep in the back of when we go camping and travelling. I figure new technology will make it more fuel efficient than the old Cruiser and as we will use it as an all in one, instead of towing some sort of camper trailer or caravan around, I will save on fuel use that way. Also I was in a bad crash once in my Jeep and if I had been in a regular car I would be dead now or badly maimed so I just feel safer in my gas guzzler!

http://www.houseandlandpackages.net/south-east-queensland.htm

Thanks for the info on those bulbs. I had no idea about them having mercury. Good info to know...