Green Options

Obama’s auto emissions standard is a landmark success in improving fuel efficiency. But American consumers haven’t yet bought into the idea of a fuel-efficient car.

You’ll eventually get into a conversation where someone will say cheap oil prices means there’s no reason to develop hybrid and electric cars. Don’t panic. Here’s how to “gently” bring them back to reality using those things called “facts”.

Now is the time for an increase in our national gas tax to fund improvements in our transportation infrastructure and save a dieing manufacturing base.

While July 2008 looked relatively normal in terms of Fourth of July celebrations and hot weather, $4 per gallon gas put a damper on that other summertime staple: the family road trip.

As you might imagine, we had a lot to say about that gas thing… but didn’t take a vacation from covering a wide range of topics.

July 2008

• Chad Crawford, our minister in residence, reviewed The Green Bible.
• Raz Godelnik of Eco-Libris dug into another book: Paper Trails.
• Robin Shreeves reported on a small town that found an innovative solution to big traffic problems: bike sharing.
• Birgitte Rasine of LUCITA sent up a flare for paper shredders clogged with junk mail.

After what seems like an endless period of record-high gasoline prices, gas station signs are changing almost constantly as the cost for a gallon of gas tumbles. Although the numbers vary depending on where you are, the trend is the same: prices have hit the bottom of the (oil) barrel.

As I write, the lowest average price in America for a gallon of regular unleaded is $1.683 in Oklahoma, while the highest is $2.866 in Alaska.1 Whatever the exact figures, they are far more than half of what they were when prices were at their highest.

As I have watched prices plummet, I have felt my joy and relief rising in an inversely proportional ratio. I also know how many others feel the same, given the fact that commuting is a necessity for many folks…and that many folks drive a lot farther than I do and do not have a hybrid to help reduce consumption.

High gas prices have had serious effects on people’s lifestyles across the world, not to mention other things such as cost of food and other goods. People have been driving less and still paying more for just about everything, causing serious problems for people on fixed incomes or with large families, for instance. We have also witnessed the virtual death of the SUV…though you can still find a Hummer barreling down the highway now and again, gas prices be damned.

Ironically, Americans are lucky when it comes to gas prices. Consumers in many other countries pay a great deal more for their fuel, due to lack of subsidies, higher taxes, or other factors. According to NationMaster.com, the top five for gas prices are Uruguay, United Kingdom, Israel, Argentina, and Japan. America comes in at #102, fairly low on the list of 141 countries; the lucky last is Turkmenistan, of all places!2

Still, gas prices are dropping worldwide, whatever that means country by country and state by state. But with all the joy I am feeling, and just about every other human being is feeling, I also wonder if cheaper gas is not really a good thing.

Americans are driving less, spurred by steep gas prices for much of this year. We are also turning to transit like never before — especially for essential trips like going to work. Demand for public transit is at an all-time high, soaring to rates not seen since 1957. Across the country, places as diverse as New York City, Southern California, North Carolina and Wyoming are witnessing sharp rises.

EDF produced an interactive map (using data from the National Transit Database) showing the many places where transit ridership jumped along with gas prices.

Scroll over the map and see eye-popping jumps in people using public transit — not just in big cities but places like Terre Haute, Indiana, and Sherman, Texas, which saw huge leaps in ridership.

The credit crunch is not just hurting the banks and the real estate market. Even the billionaire and wind energy enthusiast, T. Boone Pickens is having trouble financing his high profile 4000 MW wind farm. The proposed Texas wind farm has a hefty $10 and $12 billion price tag.

Although we are used to hearing about climbing energy costs, the price of natural gas is actually down. Natural gas accounts for 20% of the nation’s electricity generation. The energy sector is also suspecting that the financial crisis may result in a global reduction in energy demand. Pickens’ plan calls for replacing natural gas with wind energy for electricity generation, while converting vehicles to run off natural gas. The natural gas currently used for electricity would be used for transportation and America could wean itself off foreign oil.

The US auto industry’s woes are well known — we’ve covered them here at Gas 2.0 many times — but are these companies deserving of taxpayer money for a government bailout, or should they be left to deal with a mess that they mostly created?

This is the question that will be debated live on NPR.org today at 3 PM EDT (19:00 Greenwich Mean Time).

With cycling perhaps getting an uptick in popularity of late due to increasing gas prices and fuel economy concerns (and overall greater consciousness of the environment?), it seems worth noting the laws of the road — for safety and for clarification between motorists and cyclists.

Do cyclists belong on the road or the sidewalk? Should cyclists defer at all times to motorists? Who has right of way in any given situation? How can bikes and cars peacefully coexist?

Various municipal and state laws address these questions, among others. To identify what statutes apply to your home area, view the Mass Bike list, which links to various state’s laws online.

By Jonathan G. Dorn

Background

• The United States consumes nearly 21 million barrels of petroleum per day (7.5 billion barrels per year), one fourth the world total.
• Of the crude oil consumed in the U.S., 66 percent is imported.
• The U.S. is on pace to spend over $500 billion on petroleum imports in 2008.
• U.S. oil production currently occurs onshore in the lower 48 states (2.9 million barrels per day (mbd)), offshore (1.4 mbd, primarily in the Gulf of Mexico), and in Alaska (0.7 mbd).

More Drilling Cannot Make the U.S. Energy Independent

• The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that 10.4 billion barrels of oil are technically recoverable in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)—less than one and a half years of consumption.
• The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) estimates that of the 59 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) of the lower 48 states, only 18 billion are off limits under the federal moratorium.
• DOE projects that lifting the OCS moratorium would not increase production before 2017 and that by 2030 production would only amount to 0.2 million barrels per day—less than 1 percent of current consumption.
• Total U.S. proved oil reserves are estimated at 21 billion barrels—less than a 3 year supply at the current rate of consumption.
• Since peaking in 1970, U.S. crude oil production has declined 47 percent. World production could be peaking now.

The Republican Party wants to make oil the critical issue in the 2008 election. But the misdirected focus will be a fatal flaw for the Republicans if they stick to the “oil or nothing” strategy.