+1 MPG Could Offset BP Oilfield Shutdown, Say Scientists

[deadparrot]

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 11 (OneWorld) - The loss of 400,000 barrels of oil a day caused by the closure of BP's Prudhoe Bay oilfield in Alaska could be offset if all the cars and trucks in the United States got just one extra mile per gallon of fuel efficiency, a prominent non-profit grouping of scientists said this week.

The report from the Washington, DC-based Union of Concerned Scientists also says United States drivers would spend $50 million less each day on gasoline with the modest improvement of gas mileage.

"The pipeline shutdown reminds us that we need to start kicking our oil habit," the group's Clean Fuels researcher David Friedman said in a statement. "Over the course of a year, that would be $18 billion that could be spent strengthening our economy and creating jobs across the country."

Those statistics take on added meaning, Friedman told OneWorld, when one considers that cars and light trucks sold in America actually get worse gas mileage than they did 20 years ago. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, motor vehicles made by Honda, Toyota, Volkwagen, Hyundai, Kia, Nissan, General Motors, Ford, and Daimler-Chrysler average fewer miles per gallon (mpg) than they did in 1987.

http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/137698/1/

[LordLovesAWorkingMan]

1. A tiny bit would make a huge difference.

I get so tired of seeing one person in those monster trucks and SUVs, some of which are so full of worthless shit that you just know they're "hoarders," and they have a huge car because they're too insecure to throw anything out. It makes me angry that we all have to pay because some asshole wants to have his golf clubs with him at all times, along with enough room to give a ride to a basketball team. They should price gas by the volume of the area inside your car.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. I get more upset seeing one person in an empty SUV

It's one thing if you need one to haul stuff around for work or something... but those people who drive them every day to go to the office piss me off!



***This weekend on Book TV***
*Sen. Byron Dorgan, Take This Job and Ship It: How Corporate Greed and Brain-dead Politics Are Selling Out America
*Sharon Weinberger, Imaginary Weapons: A Journey Through the Pentagon's Scientific Underworld
*Jeff Goodell, Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future
*Michelle Goldberg, Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism
*Morris Berman, Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empire
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1891706

[Aviation Pro]

3. What if everyone slowed down to the optimal....

...economy speed? I began doing this with my car about six months ago and although I drive 60 miles round trip to work I can make a tank of gas last for 9 days.

[ikojo]

4. Imagine if more people rode scooters instead

of gas guzzling cars..my scooter gets approximately 60 miles per gallon.

[3dman]

5. I commute on a motorcycle

and get 55mpg.

[IntiRaymi]

6. Any idea how much money the Oil majors would lose this way?

[kestrel91316]

7. But, but, but Unka Dick said the American way of life was nonnegotiable.

I think he also said the while conservation was a virtue, it wasn't going to be able to solve any problems.

[MikeDuffy]

8. I strongly suspect if people "tuned" their driving habits

they could easily improve mpg by 1 (or more).