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wolfhounds (29.20)

Minor musings about the price of gas

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May 19, 2008 – Comments (5) | RELATED TICKERS: APD , PEO , OIH

A few months ago I came upon an article buried deep in the auto section of the weekend paper which talked about this group of 100 Japanese Matrix owners who were obsessed with tweaking the way they drove to get 100 mpg from their cars. At the time, they managed to get up to 60 mpg. I happen to own a 2005 Matrix SRS (6 speed, bigger engine). Using some of their techniques (they don't have American highways or drivers to contend with) I managed to increase my gas mileage10%.

Out of the blue comes a news story this morning  about a guy who invented a method to seriously increase gas mileage using techniques (no gizmos) that were vaguely familiar. Conducting an experiment with a Prius owner, average mileage on highway and street driving was 79.5 mpg and as much as 100 mpg at some points. None of this is exactly new or revolutionary. Drive the speed limit in the right lane; accelerate and decelerate slowly; keep your damn foot off the brake when driving; coast when driving downhill instead of using the gas pedal. There's a lot more, but you get the picture - no way in hell are Americans (except a few maybe) ever doing anything that slows them down in a car. Until they can't afford to drive at all. of course. 

We can blame whomever we want about gas prices, but in the end we are our worst enemy. We know we have to conserve in our homes or freeze (or at least I hope we do), but we can't get our damn feet off the pedal. My conclusion, keep investing in oil. It's the only sure thing in America.

5 Comments – Post Your Own

#1) On May 19, 2008 at 11:14 AM, Dudbud (28.59) wrote:

Changing behavior is tough but achievable.  Changing behavior is one of the variables that will bring Oil and gas prices to a new equilibrium.  Those who are impacted the most are already changing (not saying I'm not long oil and gas, just saying you can't get silly chasing returns)

What if some state government decided to raise all speeding tickets by 5x and enforce the existing speed limits?  Any change in behavior there?  The biggest fuel reduction would probably occur on the highways where speed reductions would have a bigger fuel efficiency effect.

Bottom line, our country has basically had no energy policy for decades (or you could say the policy was the status quo)  This means there has really been little attempt to control energy use behavior in the U.S.  I'm not sure I would count on that being the case moving forward.

Also you might be interested in this article about trying to predict where oil is going.

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/may2008/db20080513_734146.htm

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#2) On May 19, 2008 at 11:24 AM, wolfhounds (29.20) wrote:

You make good points, but we have cops all over the highways here and almost everyone still drives 70-80. I'm certainly not qulified to predict oil prices, but I am certain that only mass behavior changes not government policy will bring down the price of gas. Supply and demand always conquers all.

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#3) On May 19, 2008 at 11:42 AM, capsoregime (90.92) wrote:

Around our area, you could decrease the global demand for gasoline by mandating that the police don't drive 100+ mph on the highways.  The entire force does it, when they aren't turning their lights on to run through reds.  I don't mind being ticketed for speeding, especially if it became something truly about energy conservation; but I do mind being ticketed by hypocrites who burn more fuel in an hour than I will in a day because they know none of the compatriots will ticket them until they kill someone (which surprisingly happens relatively often around here).

 

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#4) On May 19, 2008 at 11:42 AM, Dudbud (28.59) wrote:

I went to college in Oklahoma, and one of the things that drove me crazy were the rolling road blocks that the Ok state troopers did on the toll roads. 

The trooper would drive the route right at the speed limit.  Not too many idiots would attempt to pass.

A simple strategy, but effective and not resource intensive.  If the whole nation decided it needed to reduce the avg speed traveled on highways by 5 mph, I think that goal is achievable.

I'm not in love with this example; it just popped into my head when thinking about changing behavior.   I totally concur that supply and demand rule all, I just don't want to discount behavior changes when looking at the demand side of the equation.

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#5) On May 19, 2008 at 12:18 PM, zygnoda (26.81) wrote:

They speed limit on I-94 was 55 for the longest time (in some of the older suburbs outside Detroit).  They recently raised it to 70.  doh!

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