(NewsNation) — Gas prices are the highest in American history with skyrocketing inflation and sanctions against Russian oil imports adding to the issue. Yet there’s still widespread support from American voters for sanctions against Russia despite their impact on gas prices, according to a NewsNation poll released Wednesday. 

“This is a milestone that was hard to imagine happening so quickly, but with bipartisan support of severe sanctions on Russia, is not exactly surprising — it is the cost of choking off Russia from energy revenue,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, in a Saturday news release. “As Russia’s war on Ukraine continues to evolve and we head into a season where gas prices typically increase, Americans should prepare to pay more for gas than they ever have before.”

As a result, Americans need solutions to rising costs at the gas pump. Here are some — both short- and long-term — to increase gasoline supply, lower prices and diminish the impact on people’s wallets:

Change your behavior

The quickest solution for consumers: Drive less, purchase a lower grade of gasoline and drive to maximize your mileage, experts say.

“We’ve been through this a number of times where these oil spikes have come back to haunt us,” said fuel economy expert Wayne Gerdes. “From the vehicle you choose to the way you drive, it has shown you can really lower your consumption and emissions.” 

If, like many Americans, you must drive to work or school, technology offers a solution. There are numerous apps that help people find others looking to carpool — an average savings of $5,000 a year, the car insurance company Metromile estimates. Other apps, such as GasBuddy or Gas Guru, show you the stations with the cheapest gas nearby. And since the pandemic fast-tracked working from home infrastructure across all sectors of the economy, it might be worth asking the boss if that’s an option.

Still, “even if peace broke out tomorrow, we would still have months and months of higher energy costs,” said Terry Savage, a consumer and economic expert. She suggests taking a holistic view of your budget — and planning ahead for inflation. 

“It’ll be so obvious, it’ll hit you in the face,” she said, adding that all goods being shipped — which is most everything in today’s world — will see price increases. 

Get rid of the federal gas tax

The government taxes barrels of oil at 18.3 cents per gallon, and, as a short-term solution, some have suggested eliminating the federal gas tax. 

That would save about $2-3 per tank in the average American’s car, which may not seem like much. But those savings add up to billions of dollars, otherwise bookmarked for states’ repairs to highways, railways and bridges, De Haan said. 

And simply cutting the federal tax will do nothing to the taxes individual states accrue. Meanwhile, many economists say this kind of tax break would give “very little relief to families feeling squeezed,” but rather relief to oil producers.

“Keep in mind, right now we’re kind of in the middle of a marathon,” De Haan said, adding people may feel the increase differently depending on what state they’re in. “We’re all going to get to the finish line, and it’s not going to be a pretty one.” 

Make gasoline a public utility

An unusual solution to rising, unstable gas prices might be found in the small Kentucky city of Somerset: The local government owns and operates the gas station. 

The town, surrounded by national forests, campgrounds and lakes, is a summer tourist destination, and prices at private stations can spike by 20-30 cents a gallon on weekends. To create more stable prices for the 11,000 locals, the city modeled their gas station after other municipal-owned energy models, like electricity or natural gas. The project cost $275,000 upfront for the building and storage infrastructure. 

Because the station didn’t try to make a profit — just break even — there was less incentive to hike prices due to external circumstances. In 2019, gas prices in the town were 25 cents lower than private stations in the area. 

Bring green fuel to mass markets 

Some experts say that the Russia-Ukrainian war might cause the “biggest stimulus to the rollout of renewables that the [European] continent has ever had.” That’s because drilling for oil often conflicts with the priority of fighting climate change. But what if the air you breathe out, and the carbon dioxide released from factories and cars, could be turned back into fuel? 

That’s the technology promised by Carbon Engineering, which has been creating energy plants that take CO2 out of the air, add in hydrogen and create liquid fuel. And they’re not alone. 

Porsche recently announced it is sponsoring an eFuel of captured carbon that will likely initially be sold for $45 a gallon. A plant came online this year in Chile that will use wind energy to capture CO2 and convert it. 

This month, Swiss International Air Lines announced it will use “sun-to-liquid” jet fuel — a process in which solar power helps create gasoline from biomass. And researchers are still trying to find economically viable ways to turn methane — the gas put off by fracking, food waste and livestock — into gasoline.