Taking the foot off the gas
Posted in Environment, Money by George
From the Baltimore Sun: “I like to call my generation the most hypocritical generation ever,” said Robert Kaufmann, a professor in the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies at Boston University.
In the face of shortages and high prices, Americans responded in the 1970s by driving 55 mph, car-pooling, buying smaller cars and driving less.
The government took action by imposing fuel-efficiency standards on automakers — regulations that have since been relaxed. The result was a more than 11 percent decline in gasoline consumption from 1978 to 1981, according to Energy Department data.
By contrast, speed and size rule today’s highways. The average car fuel efficiency is 24 miles per gallon, compared with a peak of 27 mpg in 1987.
And we can go zero to 60 mph in an average of 9.9 seconds today, compared with 14.1 seconds in 1975, an acceleration that also burns more fuel.
This article is pretty interesting, in that it contrasts Americans’ response to high gas prices in the 1970s versus the response now. In essence, then they did something, now nobody cares. The article points out that could be due to the fact that we’re wealthier as a nation now, and even though high gas prices are a pain, they’re not hitting anyone so hard that it forces them to change their lifestyle. It also goes into some basic economics.
Anyways, read this.
April 30th, 2006 at 3:36 pm
“From 1986 to 2003, using 2004 dollars, the real national annual average price for gasoline, including taxes, generally has been below $2 per gallon,” noted the Federal Trade Commission in a 2005 report absolving the industry of collusion. “By contrast, between 1919 and 1985, real national annual average retail gasoline prices were above $2 per gallon more often than not”
Also as a nation we are richer and devote less of our income percentage wise to gas as then we did during the previous oil shocks.
Worth noting the average profit per gallon of gas is 9cents. With Gas above 2$ per gallon that ranks right around 4.5 to 5%. Meanwhile the average gas tax per gallon is at 45cents.