[BigTex]

This is the kind of thing that solar panels and grid tie-in setup would help with.

Not everywhere, but it would be good in places like California.

[socrates1fan]

No government projects or higher wages to help either.
Many middle and upper class families can take these blows to a certian extant but lower class people are the ones who are really suffering from things like this.
its bad and people are already on the edge when it comes to their budget.

[BigTex]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('socrates1fan', 'N')o government projects or higher wages to help either.
Many middle and upper class families can take these blows to a certian extant but lower class people are the ones who are really suffering from things like this.
its bad and people are already on the edge when it comes to their budget.

[yesplease]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Drifter', 'I')t appears that heating, electric, and gasoline prices will be increasing at least 50%-75% per year from now on. This is a big deal.

[kpeavey]

This will be a hard winter.
Heating a house with oil last winter ran 2.50-2.75/gallon, with more heating assistance needed than could be offerred. Read the other day fuel oil is over the $4 mark. Heating with oil will be unaffordable.

The fast/easy/low cost equipmentwise would be electric heaters to supplement the oil. A 75% rate hike will destroy some household incomes. The difference between oil and electric is that the oil is paid for in advance. I know that in Maine, the utilites can not disconnect you in the winter.

Those without the ability to heat with wood, install a woodstove, or buy firewood due to what I expect to be a sharp increase in demand, will have no alternative but to buy a couple of electric heaters. The bills will be astronomical. Me and 2 other guys heated an apartment with electric in Albany NY in 1991, $225/mo in the winter. It was some time ago. I remember the number specifically, I don't remember if that was just my share of the bill, could have been.

So the people will get crippling electric bills and not pay them. The utilities cut off their power, report to the credit bureau. There is also the potential of winter electric blackouts due to high demand. With oil heat being controlled by electric thermostats, nobody has power, everyone freezes. Do utilities encounter cash flow problems? I think it can easily become an issue. So the utilities buy some legislators, get the laws changed so power can be cut off in the middle of winter due to non-payment

The next fallback is leaving the gas stove on continuously to heat some part of the house. What will this do for the gas stocks and prices?

I think a cold winter will have a grand effect. Those with woodstoves will find many a neighbor knocking on their doors.
I can see a southern migration as a result of an expensive winter. Home values in the north crap out while the south sees a boon.

Once the pasty untanned northerners get hit with their first southern summer, they stay inside with the AC cranked. Then its deja vu all over again, only in reverse.

[BigTex]

You could always create a climate controlled "safe room" inside a dwelling. Just super-insulate one room and take the electric radiator or ceramic heater in there and put it on low, just enough to keep the temperature in the room about 55 degrees. Wear your coat and stocking cap in the house at all times. Sleep under 10 blankets.

If things got desperate, you could even retreat to a closet and just heat that space.

Every day would be like an arctic camping trip.

[yesplease]

I think that's going a bit overboard, but I suppose it's better to have too much than too little in a situation like that. Down to 35F it's fine w/ a few layers and downright toasty if a blanket is on top.

[vetusfirma]

I have lived out side in Alaska in the winter, 50+below. With proper clothing, and a space thats not too drafty, little additional heat is needed, although the pipes might/will freeze. You will need good food to stoke the internal fires, so to speak.

[Fredrik]

In a neighborhood struggling with freezing temperatures and sky-high heating bills, some well-insulated houses could function as "inns" where several families spend the night, in sleeping bags on the floor, paying their part of the heating bill and some compensation for the hosts. Still better if those houses are equipped with a woodstove, with a local wood supply.

One way or the other, there must be a community-level solution to get over the huge energy inefficiency of spread-out suburbia. Nation-wide mass migrations would soon overwhelm any viable region.

[cube]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('BigTex', 'Y')ou could always create a climate controlled "safe room" inside a dwelling. Just super-insulate one room and take the electric radiator or ceramic heater in there and put it on low, just enough to keep the temperature in the room about 55 degrees. Wear your coat and stocking cap in the house at all times. Sleep under 10 blankets.

If things got desperate, you could even retreat to a closet and just heat that space.

Every day would be like an arctic camping trip.

[JJ]

I think also if you just heat one room you're going to have a house with no water pretty soon.

[frankthetank]

JJ...

Probably right. Although if your piping is PEX, i wouldn't worry about it much. The copper in the basement would probably be OK, but anything on the first/second floors would be subject to freezing.

Heat tape? Plumber? PEX?

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('BigTex', 'Y')ou could always create a climate controlled "safe room" inside a dwelling. Just super-insulate one room and take the electric radiator or ceramic heater in there and put it on low, just enough to keep the temperature in the room about 55 degrees. Wear your coat and stocking cap in the house at all times. Sleep under 10 blankets.

If things got desperate, you could even retreat to a closet and just heat that space.

Every day would be like an arctic camping trip.

[Kingcoal]

The worse things get later this year, the better for Obama. He's the outsider, or at least he's perceived to be, McCain, the "stay the course" candidate.

[aahala2]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Drifter', '
')
It appears that heating, electric, and gasoline prices will be increasing at least 50%-75% per year from now on. This is a big deal.

[emersonbiggins]

I've been offered a 14.1 c/kwh rate for 2 years by my provider, Reliant Energy, which, according to a nice letter that I received, represented a significant projected cost savings for me. Nevermind that I currently pay 12.1 c/kwh with Reliant, but I digress...

I called them and asked why I would sign any contract for MORE money than I'm paying now on month-to-month and the call rep said that prices were going to go up quite a bit over the next few months. Great.

[WisJim]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('BigTex', 'T')his is the kind of thing that solar panels and grid tie-in setup would help with.

Not everywhere, but it would be good in places like California.

[cube]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', 'I')'ve been offered a 14.1 c/kwh rate for 2 years by my provider, Reliant Energy, which, according to a nice letter that I received, represented a significant projected cost savings for me. Nevermind that I currently pay 12.1 c/kwh with Reliant, but I digress...

I called them and asked why I would sign any contract for MORE money than I'm paying now on month-to-month and the call rep said that prices were going to go up quite a bit over the next few months. Great.