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Slow Growth Is Forecast, Except in Prices
Tweet Share on Facebook April 8, 2008 CommentWell, even if no one else in the government is admitting we are in a recession, the federal energy forecasters are.
Their just released short-term energy and summer fuels outlook assumes that gross domestic product fell 0.14 percent in the first quarter of this year and will be down 0.04 percent in the second quarter. Then, the economy comes "roaring" back in the third and fourth quarters, with GDP forecast to be up only 0.58 percent and 0.42 percent, respectively. But even with an economy that is this anemic—and with U.S. petroleum consumption falling as a result—the U.S. Energy Information Administration says that people will be paying an average of 40 cents a gallon more this year for gasoline.
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Getting Past the Cost of Saving Fuel
Tweet Share on Facebook April 4, 2008 Comment (5)Sometimes it's hard to get past the upfront cost of saving fuel.
Since I've been writing a lot about truckers, let's look at the new technology that is beginning to help them end the enormous waste of diesel that they burn while standing still. Truckers are required by federal regulations to take rest periods, meaning many long-haul drivers idle their rigs for hours to keep heat, air conditioning, radio, or TV on while they are at roadside stops. Also, they can be stuck in idle for long periods of time at docks or other loading sites.
It's estimated that more than 1 billion gallons of diesel fuel are burned annually in the United States by trucks that are standing still. That's 11 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.
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Foreign Oil Dependence by Choice?
Tweet Share on Facebook April 3, 2008 Comment (8)Big Oil executives have been called to testify on Capitol Hill several times during this four-year run-up in energy prices, but there was a marked change in rhetoric for this week's appearance.
There was this from Peter Robertson, vice chairman of Chevron:
"We've chosen by our policy to be dependent on oil from overseas. That's our choice. We chose not to develop our own resources in this country. That was our choice."
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Peak Oil May Worsen the Climate Crisis
Tweet Share on Facebook April 2, 2008 Comment (3)It's hard to know whether we should be more worried that consuming oil is killing the planet or that there's way too little of this killer oil left.
Joe Romm of Climate Progress has an article that is getting a lot of attention in Salon, called "Peak Oil. Consider it Solved" (subscription required). His argument is that if we do what is required to address climate change—greatly increase fuel efficiency, including a switch to plug-in hybrid vehicles, and find alternative, abundant, and affordable low-carbon fuel sources, we will have slipped out of our chokehold of dependency on a finite fuel source.
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Congress Eyes Big Oil and Big Investors
Tweet Share on Facebook April 1, 2008 Comment (15)Corrected on 4/1/08: An earlier version of this blog post misnamed a Connecticut congressman. He is Rep. John Larson.
With some independent truckers planning work stoppages today over $4-per-gallon diesel fuel prices, and Big Oil company executives being called to testify on Capitol Hill, it's a good day to ask what the federal government can or should do. Expect more protests like the one Monday in my home state of Pennsylvania, where truckers rallied at the state Capitol in Harrisburg.
It is not likely to look like the worst of the truck strikes during the 1970s energy crisis, as described in this story from the July 2, 1979, issue of U.S.News & World Report:
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Fuel Pain Prompting Some Truckers to Park
Tweet Share on Facebook March 27, 2008 Comment (6)Since one of the commenters on my truckers item suggested that an independent rig operators strike may be in the offing—and no, I would not like being without food for a while—I thought I ought to check it out. The call for a work stoppage on April 1 is being sounded by Dan Little, an independent livestock hauler in Carrollton, Mo., who runs the UScattlehaulers.com blog. Little says that neither the government nor organizations such as the Owner-Operators Independent Drivers Association are helping the small truckers cope with $4 per gallon diesel fuel prices:
I do know I or my family can not keep going at this rate. Everyone is in agreement on April 1st, 2008 as the Date to pull over, Park & say enough is enough. The Gov. will hear us Only if we Stand United.
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Truckers Back a National 65-mph Speed Limit
Tweet Share on Facebook March 26, 2008 Comment (39)A highway slowdown has begun in response to high energy prices—and the big trucking companies are leading the way. Con-Way Freight, one of the nation's largest trucking firms with 8,500 rigs, has announced it is turning back the electronic speed limiters in its entire fleet from 65 miles per hour to 62 mph.
The company estimates that by keeping its drivers below that speed, it will save 3.2 million gallons of diesel fuel a year, while eliminating 72 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions—the equivalent of removing 7,300 automobiles from the nation's highways. And with diesel fuel at the current price of about $4 per gallon, Con-Way will be saving $12.8 million per year, a significant figure for a company that saw its operating income drop 27 percent last year to $235 million.
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Going Biodiesel Is No Cheap Alternative
Tweet Share on Facebook March 25, 2008 Comment (33)The retail cost of highway diesel fuel is $3.99 per gallon—thanks to tough environmental rules and strong global demand, especially in Europe. The national average retail price of diesel hit an all-time high for five weeks in a row, is above $4 per gallon in plenty of places, and is up 50 percent over one year ago.
I thought this might make it a good market for biodiesel, the alternative fuel blended from vegetable or plant oils, but then I saw Autobloggreen's report on a Minnesota biodiesel plant that was halting production, at least temporarily, because of skyrocketing soybean oil costs.
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Tune Up Your Car and Save—Eventually
Tweet Share on Facebook March 24, 2008 Comment (6)It's often said that keeping your car well maintained will get you better gas mileage, but some steps have a quicker payback than others. The government's fuel economy website has a rundown of the usual checklist and the savings you can expect—if your car needs the maintenance—at the current average gasoline price of $3.23 per gallon.
An engine tuneup, for example, could enhance an out-of-tune car's mileage by 4 percent, or the equivalent of about 13 cents per gallon. But my neighborhood mechanic says the cost of a tuneup for our old 1994 Saturn would be about $300. We'd earn back that cash outlay only after purchasing more than 2,300 gallons of gasoline at today's prices. And since our car gets about 27 mpg, we'd have to drive 64,000 miles. I don't think that car, which already has nearly 100,000 miles on it, will make it that far. If we found a mechanic who could do a tuneup for about $100, then it would take a little over a year and a half—assuming we drove about 12,500 miles per year.
However, replacing a clogged air filter has almost an immediate payback at today's gasoline prices. The government studies show that's like saving up to 32 cents per gallon, and air filters for many models can be bought for $20 or less. You'd have to buy only about 60 gallons of gasoline to break even on the investment in a new air filter, if you need one.
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The Disputed Cost of Light, Strong Cars
Tweet Share on Facebook March 20, 2008 Comment (3)Is carbon fiber one of the answers to stopping global warming and ending our oil dependence? Energy efficiency guru Amory Lovins thinks so, but the automakers—so far—do not.
Lovins, founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, both made his point and got a laugh at the National Academy of Sciences energy summit last week by covering his head briefly with a "carbon cap." It wasn't a "cap" on carbon dioxide emissions like in the Kyoto protocol or the Warner-Lieberman bill, but it would be relevant to one. The headwear was a hard, black 2-millimeter-thick test piece for a military helmet. Lovins took the hat off and then whacked it to demonstrate its ringing clang. "You can tell that plastics have changed since The Graduate," he said.
