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Petrol still Costing Australians More than Ever Before
- By Dean Seyffer
- Published 26th August, 2008
- Fuel Prices
I heard the straight facts on the news this morning. The average price of petrol this August has hovered around the $1.50 per litre mark. So we Australians paid, on average, $209 for our petrol this past month. The good news: the announcer said this is $20 less than what we paid in July. The bad news: he then pointed out this is actually $40 more than what we paid for petrol in August 2007!
What's wrong with this picture? Do we humans really have such short memories that we can’t remember petrol when it was under $1.00 per litre? That was only a few short years ago. And now we think that $1.50 per litre is a good price?!! This is crazy.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I grew tired of being at the mercy of the OPEC nations. When I was travelling in 2005, petrol cost roughly $3.00 AUD in Germany and elsewhere. If you think that this can’t happen here, you’re dreaming. There’s no way that the price of petrol is going to stabilise at $1.50 AUD.
I decided to put myself in the driver's seat (sorry, bad pun!). I got a flex fuel conversion kit fitted into my car, and fuel up on E85, at a petrol station in Rozelle. I've buzzed along all winter on E85: 85% ethanol and 15% petrol. Unlike the up and down, dancing prices of petrol, E85 has remained steady at around $1.05 per litre throughout the winter.
So I have saved a surprising amount of money by filling up on E85. I'm banking it, so it can go towards a holiday this summer. That'll put a smile on my wife and children's faces.
And I get to help the Australian economy instead of making the OPEC giants any richer than they already are. E85 helps to keep the profits in Australia, and helps to employ Aussies.
What's wrong with this picture? Do we humans really have such short memories that we can’t remember petrol when it was under $1.00 per litre? That was only a few short years ago. And now we think that $1.50 per litre is a good price?!! This is crazy.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I grew tired of being at the mercy of the OPEC nations. When I was travelling in 2005, petrol cost roughly $3.00 AUD in Germany and elsewhere. If you think that this can’t happen here, you’re dreaming. There’s no way that the price of petrol is going to stabilise at $1.50 AUD.
I decided to put myself in the driver's seat (sorry, bad pun!). I got a flex fuel conversion kit fitted into my car, and fuel up on E85, at a petrol station in Rozelle. I've buzzed along all winter on E85: 85% ethanol and 15% petrol. Unlike the up and down, dancing prices of petrol, E85 has remained steady at around $1.05 per litre throughout the winter.
So I have saved a surprising amount of money by filling up on E85. I'm banking it, so it can go towards a holiday this summer. That'll put a smile on my wife and children's faces.
And I get to help the Australian economy instead of making the OPEC giants any richer than they already are. E85 helps to keep the profits in Australia, and helps to employ Aussies.