Force Change

More interesting facts regarding U.S. oil consumption and policy

Following up on our post from yesterday, we’ve noted some other interesting facts regarding U.S. fuel efficiency: 

• 70% of our consumption of oil is for transportation
• We have 4% of world’s population but use 25% of the oil
• Our consumption of oil from driving is nearly 2 times that of China and India combined. 

Now the good news: where government policy has failed, the market is finally working.  With gas almost at $5 per gallon, SUV sales have plummeted, with Ford’s SUV sales down 55% from last year.  Although our failed policies (and non-policies) have lead to the current situation, high gas prices are accomplishing what our government refused to do– which is to decrease our irresponsibly excessive consumption of oil.  

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Posted in Energy, General, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Transportation | No Comments »

Decades of failed U.S. policy led to current oil situation

Sunday’s New York Times had a great piece outlining the recent history of American policy (non-policy) towards oil consumption.  Reading this article, one begins to understand the massive policy mistakes we have made over the past 20 or so years that have led to the situation we currently face.  In order to understand the depth of this failure, we have to look back to the oil shortages of the 1970s.  In response to those shortages, the U.S. realized that cheap and plentiful oil supplies were not a guarantee, and consequently implemented the CAFE standards (”corporate average fuel economy”), which mandated a minimum average fuel efficiency level for automakers.  As a result of those standards, by 1989, the average fuel efficiency for a car sold in America increased from 13.8 to 27.5 miles per gallon.  However, our national policy began to fall apart soon thereafter.

Throughout the 90’s, oil prices dipped to lows around $10 per barrel and our consumption increased dramatically.  Cheap gas and big SUV’s, that were governed by less stringent regulations due to a loophole in the original 1975 law, led to substantially more oil consumption and waste. 

Throughout this period there were a number of attempts to increase fuel efficiency standards and gas taxes, however they were usually rejected or watered down by politicians from oil or car producing states.  Not only did the Congress fail to enact tougher standards, they actually included a provision in a 1995 appropriations bill affirmatively prohibiting the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from spending money to increase the CAFE standards. 

At the same time that the government was failing to require car manufacturers to produce more efficient cars, there was also a series of moves to prevent additional domestic oil exploration in places such as Alaska.  Additionally, federal gas taxes were kept substantially lower than other countries, which also removed any disincentive to conserve gas. 

As a result, we are now faced with the current situation where gas is nearing $5 per gallon, American automakers are in serious financial trouble, and there is no clear solution in sight.  While there is no magic bullet for this situation, understanding its causes and identifying the actions/inactions that lead to it, can help us craft better policy in the future.  Additionally, politicians who opposed comprehensive and intelligent energy policies should be held accountable. 

Given our experiences with oil shortages in the 1970s, and the generally anticipated global growth from countries like China and India, it cannot be said that this current situation was unforeseeable.  Consequently, those leaders who refused to enact sensible policy (or worse, actively opposed it), should be held accountable.  After all, this is what is currently happening with American automakers who fought fuel standards for many years– they are now suffering the consequences of plummeting sales. 

Photo credit.

Posted in Energy, General, Governmental Regulations, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Transportation | No Comments »

Post Office seeks ways to save on fuel costs

The largest operator of a civilian vehicle fleet in the country, the US Postal Service is really feeling the effects of increased gasoline prices.  According to the Deputy Postmaster General, the USPS spent $1.7 billion on gasoline and diesel last year, and predicts that number to increase by $600 million this year.  As a result, the USPS, which uses 200,000 trucks has been forced to look for alternative means of reducing fuel consumption–some of which have been successful, some of which, not so much. 

One strategy, which has not proven very effective, was the purchase of 30,000 alternative fuel vehicles, including flex-fuel (E85), CNG and biodiesel trucks.  In particular, the flex-fuel trucks saw a decrease in fuel efficiency by 29% and ended up consuming 1.5 million more gallons of gasoline than before.  

Some more effective solutions have included realigning routes so drivers don’t have to make left turns (which require more idling), adding GPS systems to plot more efficient delivery routes and, the most effective solution: having employees deliver more of their route by foot. 

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Posted in General, Governmental Behavior, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Transportation | No Comments »

Comparison of the candidates’ oil and energy policies

Looking at this comparison by Reuters of the presidential candidates’ energy and oil policies, it is clear that Senators Obama and Clinton are proposing more aggressive legislation than McCain.  Nonetheless, the good news is that all three candidates have significantly more pro-environmental policies than the current administration.  So at least we know some change is on the way.  Whether it will be enough to make a difference, we shall see.

Some of the highlights of the comparison:

On gas prices:

McCain and Clinton want to suspend the federal gas tax this summer.

Obama wants to temporarily stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

On fuel economy:

Clinton wants to increase average efficiency standards to 55 miles per gallon by 2030.

Obama wants to double the current standards by 2026.

McCain has not yet released a specific target but indicates he wants to decrease our dependence on foreign oil.

On biofuels:

All three candidates support dramatic increases in biofuel production and distribution.

Photo credit.

Posted in Energy, General, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Politics | 1 Comment »

NPR’s ‘Car Talk’ hosts take on fuel efficiency in 1 hour TV special

On Tuesday the PBS show, NOVA, had a great program [watch online] with Tom and Ray Magliozzi (a.k.a. Click and Clack of Car Talk), where they traveled across the country in search of ways to increase fuel efficiency in cars. Besides being their hysterical selves, the program was actually very informative and took a broad look at potential solutions to the gas problem.  Not surprisingly, they did not identify a silver bullet solution, but instead highlighted a series of potentially useful technologies, ranging from fuel cells, to biofuels, to hybrids.  The program was entertaining and informative and I would highly recommend viewing it (which can probably only be done online now).  An overview of the program’s conclusions can be read here and the trailer can be viewed here.

Posted in Energy, General, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Science and Innovation, Transportation | No Comments »

A failure of leadership in the private sector.

This is not a new story, but given our common theme regarding the failure of federal government officials to provide leadership on environmental issues, we thought it would be useful to give an example of a private leader also failing to provide leadership. As has been widely reported, General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz described global warming last month as a “total crock of s–t” to a group of reporters in Texas.

Although Lutz claims his remarks have no bearing on his company’s overall policy towards greenhouse gas emissions, it is not insignificant that he holds these views. GM has often been criticized for failing to adapt rapidly enough to the changing consumer market, which shifted from demanding big gas guzzling SUVs to smaller more efficient vehicles. (more…)