Obama Tire Guage Energy Plan

Barack Obama just suggested that Americans can help conserve energy by inflating their tires. The McCain campaign is making a bit of a joke from this suggestion. In fact, this morning the McCain campaign distributed tire pressure guages to reporers and emailed supporters offering them “Obama Energy Plan” tire pressure guages if they donate $25.

Is this whole tie pressure bit just a lot of hot air? Not really…although it won’t be a major solution to our energy problem, little things do help. Keeping tires inflated properly can improve gas mileage 3-4% resulting in a savings of about twelve cents a gallon, according to the overnment’sd website www.fueleconomy.gov

According to the Energy Information Administration, in the US we consume 9,286,000 barrels/day (390 million gallons/day) of gasoline. Three percent of that consumption is a savings of 11.7 million gallons a day. Here’s some interesting related stats:

Consumers would spend 46.8 million dollars less a day for gas (assuming $4 per gallon price)..so that’s 1.7 billion dollars a year less that consumers would be spending on gas that could be spent elsewhere in the economy! Interesting numbers…the fact is that we’re consuming so much oil that even a minor savings can mean a substantial dollar impact!

No, I think Obama’s point about inflating our tires was presented incorrectly (at least in tone) as a major solution to our problem, but it has a bigger dollar impact than many of us might think! Don’t these dollar numbers surprise you? Of course, to get 100% of Americans to inflate their tires (or do anything) is unrealistic..but even if half of the population did it, the impact could still be helpful.

Scooter buying tips

Have you ever considered using a scooter sometimes to help reduce the amount of money you spend on gas?

According to dictionary.com, a scooter is “a child’s vehicle that typically has two wheels with a low footboard between them, is steered by a handlebar, and is propelled by pushing one foot against the ground while resting the other on the footboard.Also called motor scooter. a similar but larger and heavier vehicle for adults, having a saddlelike seat mounted on the footboard and being propelled by a motor.

Here’s some tips for buying a motor scooter:

1. Where will you drive it? Will you only be driving it locally or will you be driving on more high traffic roads? This will help you determine how fast you need the scooter to go.
2. How much weight do you plan to carry? Will you be the only person on the scooter or do you plan to take a passenger? You need to consider weight in order to check the specifications of what wieghts your scooter can carry.
3. Which scooter should I buy? Much of this is personal opinion. To help you check out some of the manufacturers, we’ve listed some of the manufaccturers with links to their sites.
4. Drive safe! Before you start driving, take a motorcycle driver training course even if it isn’t required by law.
5. Get insurance just like yu buy insurance for your car
6. Consider getting an alarm for your scooter to protect it from being stolen.

As part of my continuing series of buying tips, we’ll share other scooter buying tips in the future. As promised, here’s a list of links to scooter manufacturers:

Aprilia Scooters

Piaggio Scooters

Honda Scooters

Suzuki Scooters

Vespa Scooters

Schwinn Scooters

Yamaha Scooters

Watch Boone Pickens Plan

If you haven’t heard billionaire T Boone Pickens has taken out advertisements to promote a plan for energy independence. Here are some videos of Pickens:

Here’s a video of the Pickens plan:

Here’s a longer version of the plan:

Here’s Pickens on CNBC:

55 miles per hour returning?

Remember when the maximum speed limit was 55? That was way back in 1974 when the nation faced the Arab oil embargo….Gee, why didn’t we become more proactive about energy independence back then? Good question, right!

In 1995, we were permitted to “put the pedal to the metal” again and the 55 mph limit was dropped…Deja vu—-well requiring us to drive no more than 55 is back on the table again in Congress.

In a recent discussion, Republican Senator John Warner from Virginia asked Energy Secretary Sam Bodman to caclulate how much we would save at 55 mph- when enacted in the past the savings was 167-thousand barrels of oil a day. Savings could be greater today.

What do you think? Should Congress re-enact the reduced speed limit? You know, besides saving gas, it would save lives as well…

Here’s some related stories:

Hybrid Cars Today Videos

Watch a top list of great videos about hybrid cars today! You’ll find general information here about hybrid cars and hybrid car technology plus information about some specific hybrids.

Hybrid Cars

Top 5 Hybrid Cars For 2008

hybrid-car-prius

Demand For Hybrid Cars Continues To Rise

Developing hybrid cars

GM Richard Wagoner hybrid cars

Larry David Talking Hybrid Cars - Toyota Prius

City TV News item on Hybrid Cars

LA Auto Show: Hybrid Cars

Hybrid Cars

Gasoline/Electric Hybrid Cars, Trucks, SUVs

E3 TV: Hybrid cars

New Ford Hybrid Cars Benson Ford Huge Ford Dealer Easley. S

(Hybrid Cars) Overpriced? Increase MPG and Save Money!

Gasoline/Electric Hybrid Cars, Trucks, SUVs

I hope this hybrid car information is helpful to you- if you are shopping for a Hybrid car now or just want to learn more about hybrids.

Billionaire Pickens High Gas Price Solution

clipped from www.reuters.com Tue Jul 8, 2008 3:16pm EDT By Timothy Gardner NEW YORK, July 8 (Reuters) - Texas energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens on Tuesday called for a massive switch to natural gas as a transportation fuel and a boost in wind power in a plan aimed at reducing U.S. foreign oil dependence by a more than a third. The Pickens Plan, which includes exploiting domestic natural gas supplies in new areas like East Texas and Appalachia, could replace 38 percent of U.S. oil imports, he said. “U.S. natural gas can replace foreign oil. It’s the only natural resource we have that can do that,” Pickens said during a press event for his energy plan. The 10-year plan would reduce the annual U.S. oil import bill of $700 billion, at oil prices of $140 a barrel, by hundreds of billions of dollars, he said. The country imports about 70 percent of its crude. Click here for the whole story

Book on better gas mileage

I just came across a book on improving gas mileage and thought you might find it helpful.

Irrational about gas?

I stopped by a nearb outdoor sporting goods supplier’s store yesterday to get my car outfitted to carry my sailboat and I began to speak with the owner. He pointed out that some folks are now towing their boats with a motorcycle instead of a van to save money. In fact companies are making boat trailers exactly for the reason of allowing motorcycle towing.

This same store owner at the store called Helisport added something he was doing about the high price of gas. He told me he had adapted his car engine to give him 60 miles a gallon. I was in a hurry and didn’t have time to get the details but his approach about the gas price got me to thinking about how other folks are dealing with the gas crisis.

I  learned today from CNN Money that folks in California were driving to Mexico to get cheaper gas even though if one considers lost time and the wear and tear on the car it didn’t make sense. Another story was told about how people are trading in their SUVs less than three years old even though SUV resale value is extremely low- another irrational gas decision.

On the CNN Money show today, CNN’s guest Daniele Arriele, behavioral ecomomist, spoke about irrational behavior on the part of consumers as it relates to money. He recently published a book called “Predictably Irrational“. (By the way, you can find an interview with Arriele from Amazon, by clicking here.

In thinking about how you are reacting about gas prices and how your friends have been acting, share some stories and tell me if you think the stories are rational or not.

See a related story from the Fayetteville NC observer where Arriele is interviewed about gas prices. In this article, Arrelle says he doesn’t see comsumers making major changes because of gas prices.

Energy Manhattan project?

Why aren’t we treating the high priced gas crisis like we treated the need to develop the A bomb during World War II? The Manhattan project was an all out effort by the government and private industry to develop the atomic bomb…we did it in record time and the course of history was changed forever!

We put a man on the moon because Kennedy inspired us and dedicated talented folks made it happen even though some people laughed and said it couldn’t happen…Why the hell don’t we have a Manhattan like project going on at this very moment but for alternative energy? The lack of an effort like this makes me mad as hell!…Mad for the sake of the security of this country…mad about what these high prices are doing to our economy and the people on tight budgets who are struggling now because of these prices.

Before we decide on who will be President, we should demand that the candidate we choose commit to an alternative energy Manhattan project…and not just rhetoric but a comprehensive detailed plan for how to make it happen!

Here’s a thought- a group of bright…no… brilliant minds from multiple disciplines from private industry should develop a written position piece and proposed plan for the Manhattan project starting right now.

Some say we should begin drilling in more places now to give oil prices some relief…If this is our only alternative, perhaps we should…but only as an interim measure. We need a longer term comprehensive Manhattan type project that is more environmentally friendly but with limited impact on our free enterprise system.

Why don’t we have the Oil Manhattan Project? Is it too controversial for our politicians? Are lobbying groups blocking this? Has no leader in business or government suggested this idea? Is the public not smart enough to demand that a project like this begin now? What do you think???

Car pooling- why not now?

I don’t know about you but as I keep seeing the price of gas rise, I keeping thinking about finally getting serious about car pooling. Some ideas I had for car pooling include:

• Ask my company for help in finding me someone who commutes to the office and lives in my area;
• Approaching the owner of the office building where I work to launch a car pooling program for everyone who works there;
• Searching for web sites that help you find someone to car pool with. I know some government agencies have sites like this.

Reasons to Carpool

I understand the annoyances of carpooling. Right now I work from home, but for a couple of years I carpooled to work with my husband. While it was fun to have someone share the driving with and to talk with on the ride in, …

Interest in mass transit, carpools, scooters jumps

Paul Dorn says traffic almost tripled on his two websites that offer commuter tips for bicyclists — from 7893 in April 2007 to 21580 last month. Many visitors cite gas prices, he says. • Interest in vanpools is growing. …

Look, if you and two other people shared a ride to work, you’d cut your gas costs to 1/3 of what you were paying. I’m thinking to myself about now “Car pool now stupid!”

Here’s some related articles about car pooling:

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