When (and Where) solar energy is not an option

People in southern climes wishing to wean themselves from a dependancy on fossil fuel powered vehicles may dream of solar power to fuel their cars year round, but this far north, short winter daylength and long periods of darkness mean that this could only be possible in the summer when the sun stays up for almost two months straight. This can certainly be capitalized on in the summer (and is by at least one company in town) but for much of the winter, we're rather out of luck. Although the sun has finally returned from its month long hiatus from the north and the days are slowly growing longer, solar power won't help our town much in its new dilemma at the moment . Why ever not, you ask?

For the simple reason that our town is running out of gas. Literally.

Apparently the company charged with shipping up enough gas to the town only sent about half of what was needed before the rivers began freezing up and the barges that carry the shipments couldn't run. Owners of gas stations are accusing the company of keeping things secret until now, although they would have known by ice-up (back in the fall) that not enough diesel and regular gasoline were sent.

This means that gas is being rationed and will also likely be jumping dramatically in price. ManNorth biked to work yesterday and had always intended to keep cycling/walking/snow shoeing to work but this will be added incentive to minimize use of Big Red. We're also glad that we filled two large jerry cans as an emergency supply while enroute from the south where the price was cheaper and those have now been used to top up Red's supply.

Gas station owners have the option of paying to have fuel trucked north but this will obviously increase the cost as the expense is passed along to the consumers. I'll be interested to see if this changes any of the town residents' fuel consumption and driving habits. ManNorth and I are continually boggled at the fact that so many residents drive what is only a 5-10 minute walk to their workplaces or for shopping on our main street. (Many of them also drive back home for their lunch, creating a wee rush hour at the town's sole traffic light beginning and ending at noon and one pm. Perhaps as fuel prices increase (or should fuel become unavailable) a few people may consider packing a lunch or (horrors!) walking to and from work occasionally.

The town also has a suburb of sorts out in the delta where some local residents maintain cabins and access them by snow mobile in the winter and by boat in the summer. Thinking of them, I wonder how the fuel will be rationed: will such residents get priority over mainland residents? Will there be a fixed limit per address or per employer vehicle? I don't know yet, but will post again when I find out.