Tom Tomorrow: A brief history of gasoline consumption in America

[devilgrrl]

[rusty quoin]

1. I have thought about this my whole driving life. K&R

[tularetom]

4. Tomorrow nails it again.

My son in law has one of them 4 wheel drive diesel F-350 crew cab pickemups. It's sat in his driveway since March because he can't afford the diesel to drive it. And he owes more on it that he could get for it right now.

He's between a shit and a sweat now becaus diesel in our area is pushing $5 per gallon.

[Captain Angry]

7. I know a few guys with trucks that size. They are turning down jobs...

Because it costs too much to get to the site relative to the money they'll make while working there.

They need the trucks due to the tile work they do, etc. You can't exactly tile a hospital lobby out of the back of a Camry.

[JohnyCanuck]

17. Me too

I was in my twenties when we had the oil shocks in the 1970's and I experienced the line ups for gas, the switch to small cars, and the predictions that we would have to move to alternative energy sources as the end of the oil age was approaching. Then sometime in the 80s I started wondering at how the gas guzzlers cars had come back in a big way and then we had an even bigger emergy blowout as SUV and pickup sales took off and more and more people started driving SUVs instead of cars. I really didn't pay much attention at the time, but I do recollect telling myself that we must have found a bunch more oil somewhere because now no one seemed to care about the energy crisis any more nor did they treat energy and oil supplies as if they were still a problem we should be concerned about. Unfortunately it wasn't quite the case.

[lordsummerisle]

2. Thanks for sharing this

I've been composing this cartoon in my head for quite a while now...

[ColbertWatcher]

3. I can't seem to get past the hair & clothes...

...the sentiment is funny as always, but the clothes are hypnotic...

[Raster]

5. ...and pretty fairly depict the corresponding decade!!!

I love the 80's and the "hip" bolo ties. Tom Tomorrow ROCKS!

[ColbertWatcher]

6. I know, that's what makes it so funny!

Tom Tomorrow does indeed rock.

[badgerpup]

16. You caught that too?

It was the NFL-quality shoulder pads on the woman's jacket that had me giggling. :P

[Raster]

19. Another "nice" touch is the blue eye shadow on Ms. 70s.

And of course "Hello Kitty" on Ms. 90s. Tom's art is every bit as telling--perhaps even more so--as the verbal storylines.

[Virginia Dare]

25. Love the mullet!...n/t

[93ncsu]

8. Hummer H1s can run on bio-diesel ...

As long as they have a diesel engine (which the H1s do). The newer H2s and H3 need to be converted.

Still, I think it is somewhat funny that a stock H1 can use less petroleum than a Prius.Find yourself a few restaurants that want to save some money and you'll have an almost unlimited supply of fuel that would have been waste in the first place.

[Raster]

9. A Prius gets approximately 45 miles to the gallon. A Hummer doesn't even come close.

I take it you mean if it runs on bio-diesel? And don't look now, but used fry oil is now a hot commodity. In fact people are stealing it.

[93ncsu]

12. The point is not the mileage ...

It is obvious that Prius will always do better than an H1 in mileage.

However, a current Prius will also always run on petroleum-based fuel, whereas an H1 can run on bio-diesel up to B100.

[Raster]

14. Yes, and when a "plug in" component for the Prius is included, it will get over 100 mpg...

...without changing out the engine.

[93ncsu]

15. I wonder what a hybrid H1 with a biodiesel engine would get ...

Still not 100 mpg, but there has to be room in there for a ...

Of course, this is just all fun discussion.

Personally, I'd take a plug-in anything with decent range. I really hope the Chevy Volt takes off, but I am not holding my breath.

[Raster]

18. With the price of gas these days...

Yep, Love to see the Volt take off. Detroit should have been making more efficient cars YEARS ago!

[Vickers]

10. "The newer H2s and H3 need to be converted."

Wait...converted from gas to diesel?

You do realize that means replacing the entire engine, right?

[93ncsu]

11. Of course I know what that means ...

I didn't say it would be cheap or even practical. There's a guy in CA doing it, though.

[Vickers]

13. "I didn't say it would be cheap or even practical."

Well then, it's a FANTASTIC idea!

:eyes:

Welcome to DU yadda yadda yadda...

[The2ndWheel]

20. That's why efficiency isn't the answer to the question

Don't know if there is an answer.

[Supersedeas]

24. renewable

[gasperc]

21. completely brilliant

on, like, fourteen levels

[alfredo]

22. Audi at Le Mans will be using bio diesel made from wood chips and other

waste products. Peugeot will be running conventional diesel.

[Blue_Tires]

23. also, the 90s was the decade

that bigger engines and higher horsepower came back into style (in a MAJOR way)