Reducing Oil Usage
Similar to 1973, we are faced with an energy crisis or a coming one. Our usage/demand is outstripping supply. The nation is a bit more prepared this time. I am not seeing the long lines waiting to add a couple of gallons of gasoline to top off. We have done a lot since 1973 in the US while European countries are doing more.
This rendition of 10 points of things we could do is taken from Treehugger, authored by Lloyd Alter, and entitled “International Energy Agency Issues 10-Point Plan to Cut Oil Use.”
Some of this is not new and has been suggested, not demanded, of people before. We still do not listen until it becomes a crisis or the old “crap” moment. We may again be at this point where our decision may be crucial globally. The ten points:
1. The zinger here is to reduce the speed limit being driven by driving the speed limit. By driving the speed limit on US Highways, 290 thousand barrels of oil per day (kb/d) could be saved. Even so, many drivers today admit to driving 15 mph over the speed limit (The American Addiction to Speeding) and get angry if you are in their way no matter the lane. More emphasis is being placed on minimizing their anger then on driving the speed limits nationally.
2. According to the IEA, working from home up to three days a week where possible nets oil savings of 500 thousand barrels per day (kb/d). Since we click on the air in Summer, practicing the three day a week at home work schedule nets more of the savings. Side point; don’t see many of those toobig-toofast-toonoisy-toooften vehicles in Europe due to law and costs. Their vehicles are 40% more efficient than American vehicles. In other words, we have a long way to go.
3. Vehicle free Sundays in cities would net 380 kb/d (if you forgot what kb/d is, look at the examples above). If you are in and around Chicago or NYC, this is a no brainer, just take the trains and the buses. If you did not notice that during the pandemic shutdowns, we had less pollution. Wildlife actually started to show up again because we were not around.
4. Subsidize more public transportation and incentivize micro-mobility, walking, and cycling. Kind of hard to have bike lanes in our cities. When I was riding bikes, you really had to watch the cars. Some just did not care. Europe again leads the way with this with subsidies. Electric bikes move pretty fast. Savings of 330 kb/d.
5. Alternate private car access days to roads in large cities. If there are alternative transportation methods available. Cheaters get big tickets. Saves about 210 kb/d.
6. Ride share going back and forth to work. Maintaining your car’s tires as well as other things contributes to gas savings. The study suggests increasing car occupancy by 50% from the average 1.5 people per car trip adds up to 470 kb/d and you may get to ride in HOV lanes.
7. USPS does last mile delivery to many homes. It is cheaper for them to do it and also saves fuel. The article suggests piggybacking on rail flatbeds the same as containers, for long haul trucks. We already do this for containers arriving on the west coast. I can not see independent truckers doing this. There is a potential for large trucking companies doing this. There would be more time involved. Prioritizing fuel savings over time savings could make a far bigger dent than just 320 kb/d.
8. High-speed rail lines could connect major cities at distances under 1,000 km [621 miles]. Trains provide a high-quality substitute for short-distance flights. We do need a better railroad connecting cities. When I was in China, it was relatively easy to travel in and out of Shanghai via the 200mph trains. Today, the IEA expects it to only replace 2% of aviation activity and save 40 kb/d. The trains do not exist in the US in abundance.
9. More Zoom, WebEx, Cisco computer meetings rather than flights to meet with clients and inhouse personnel. This makes sense. I can see great pressure on airlines due to this and a decreasing industry. However, it decreases time spent on nonbusiness traveling and fuel. IEA is calling for a reduction of about two out of every five flights and a savings of 260 kb/d or more.
10. Hastening the adoption of electric vehicles will have a sustained effect in the future. Mandating higher efficiency in conventionally fueled vehicles would do more too. It must be fun for people with their pickup trucks that have never carried dirt or bags of Portland in the back. Fun in the manner of filling up a 30 -gallon tank with gasoline at $4.60 a gallon. There is no return coming from a nonwork related vehicle to offset the cost of tooling around in such a vehicle to get a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk. Oh, and I forgot the six-pack of Budweiser. Projected saving off of alternative energy vehicles more than 100 kb/d in the short-term.
There never seems to be any urgency, even when there are critical dates and timetables to cut emissions and stay below a 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) increase globally. The 10 points (or my version of them) needing to be accomplished to offset increasing global temperatures have been documented as a way of reducing carbon emissions and preventing climate change. Still, we are plodding along oblivious to the impact we are making.
I am sure we will hear it is my right to do as I wish. True, you always have the right to do things as long as your doing something does not impinge on another person’s rights. We do need to change our perspective on how we live and its impact on the world around us.
The original version of this article can be found at Treehugger, authored by Lloyd Alter, “International Energy Agency Issues 10-Point Plan to Cut Oil Use.”
Trains!?
In the USA?
The IEA makes me laugh.
Who are these people?
DB
People with a dream of something better. On the east coast there is Acela. It moves along although not as fast as the Shanghai trains.
A wish list like this is worthless, when a large minority is actively antisocial, and many more are not motivated enough to engage. But almost every item on the wish list can be mostly fulfilled by raising the price of gas. That is something that is within the power of the people via government (i.e., taxes). The regressive nature of those taxes can be mitigated by subsidizing poor people who are hurt, provided that the subsidies are clearly time-limited enough to motivate changed behavior.
Rick:
Not terrible. What is so terrible about slowing down and saving on oil? Explain why it can’t be done before you call it a wish list?
Point 1 is the minority should not be putting themselves upon everyone else causing them harm. Point 2 is grow the f*ck up. You and others are not the only people in the world. Point 3 is accomplishing the simplest thing on that list, the first item can’t be done because “you” don’t want to do it.
The first six items on that list are in the realm of possibilities.
You just want to whine like a bunch of kids. Please don’t take my toy away. It going to happen whether you like it or not. Americans are not the only people in the world.
Run,
Rick said worthless list, not terrible ideas. Also Rick went on to say “almost every item on the wish list can be mostly fulfilled by raising the price of gas. That is something that is within the power of the people via government (i.e., taxes). The regressive nature of those taxes can be mitigated by subsidizing poor people who are hurt, provided that the subsidies are clearly time-limited enough to motivate changed behavior.” Do not get me wrong. I do not believe that either approach will fly, but not because the goals are wrong or the methods are ineffective. We are just so brilliant and well organized that we cannot move past our own egos in engagement.
RE; “almost every item on the wish list can be mostly fulfilled by raising the price of gas. That is something that is within the power of the people via government”
the problem is that those in charge of the government have made three attempts to lower the price of gas in less than four months by releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve…
i would argue that an SPR release is not an effective way to lower the price of gas, but their actions in trying to do so tell you what their priorities are on the matter…
The time for talk is over: we’re not Lucky Men, we don’t get to just give up, lead by example. When I need to drive my 10/mpg 1 ton Chevy 4×4 pickup, which these day’s is maybe one or twice a month fifteen or twenty miles, I drive it. It’s not a car, it’s a utility vehicle. The last time I filled it was November. Otherwise, for the once or twice a week I run a few errands, maybe ten miles, I drive a Smart Car, gets 35/mpg.
I was out of the country in ’73, but I saw this coming, got the pickup down to the fuel depot at 25 cent increase ~ $75 fill ~ and a half an hour later the Smart Car … at 50 cent increase ~ $15 tipoff. Yeah, 7ish on the first Monday of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, cussed myself for not getting down there Sunday.
There’s nothing on that list unreasonable … the time for talkin’ is over
Have you compared occasionally renting a pickup or something more suitable to puchase-price+maintenance+insurance+time-value-of-purchase-price?
Yes, and in fact have rented trucks for specific purpose.
The advantage here is I own the truck, it’s paid for …
Ten Bears;
I was home in 73 having done my time and driving a Datsun 510 to school and work.
You begin to see how even the simplest things being done to conserve are repugnant to many or those who wish not to be bothered conserving. Fifteen miles per hour over the speed limit, they can not be bothered to reduce it by half to conserve, save on gasoline, and also minimize the amount of C02 emitted. Gotta have that Ford F150 Raptor or Dodge Challenger HellCat.
Didn’t touch on emissions. A 2019 F150 Ford Raptor will add more than 140 tons of C02 over its lifetime of ~200,000 miles when it is driven at normal speeds unloaded. I was automotive for 20+ years and planned manufacture of parts for Ford, Chrysler, and foreign cars. People do not drive these vehicles at normal speeds. In Arizona, every other vehicle is a Charger, Challenger, or some pickup version.
I understand the need for bigger vehicles if you are using them for work. Even so, I see the many of the construction types running around in spotless trucks. You could eat your dinner off of the deck in the back. They never carried anything back there. Ten Bears, its not you we are having issues. My VW Passat with the 1.8 litre gasoline engine pulls 40 miles to the gallon with the wind at my back at 2000 RPM or ~70 mph.
You don’t need a bigger engine with more HP to pull or haul a large load, you need a better transmission and differential. Of course you may not be the fastest off the line or have a high top end. You really do not need either if you are being honest and not making excuses. Its just show. Probably should blame Tonka for creating the image of a need for pic-me-ups.
Rick, Ron, etc. have a million excuses for not doing the simplest things. Drive the speed limit or slightly over and you saved on gasoline and cut emissions.
We have a system. We just conserve by price. It gets expensive and the poors can’t pay.
SW,
The liberal solution of using price for conservation includes Rick’s “The regressive nature of those taxes can be mitigated by subsidizing poor people who are hurt, provided that the subsidies are clearly time-limited enough to motivate changed behavior.” I don’t myself worry much about the details because liberals have been pitching cap and trade and/or taxes to cover the externalized costs of fossil fuels for going on half a century now and nothing substantial has happened yet other than the inconvenient truth of climate change has become bigger and bolder, almost difficult to ignore for anyone approaching sentient consciousness. We are still better at back-biting than anything else because no one but liberals pays any attention to what liberals have to say.
The vast unwashed have more positive engagement with shingles than they do with liberals.
Ron;
No, just don’t do 15 mph over the speed limit and maybe there will not be as high an increase. We won’t have to mitigate subsidizing the poor and fight with Repubs who don’t give a damn.
It is a simple task for you, Rick, and others.
Run,
We just do not drive that many miles. It works for us. I am retired and my wife works at the kitchen corner nook on her laptop with MS Teams. We heat with oil and keep the thermostat at 65F in the winter. Individual action can save a household from crazy high expenses in these times of oil inflation, but it cannot solve climate change.
Of course then collective action requires coherence and cohesion. So, I guess that is entirely out of the question now.
Ron;
The 2015 VW Passat has 63,000 miles on it. When we left Michigan, we drove it to Chicago, then Denver, and finally to Arizona near Phoenix. We will not buy new either. I maintain it and it may get 2000 miles per year from now on if we go exploring. The 2013 Ford Escape has 114,000 miles on it. It runs well, is also maintained, and is relatively efficient if you drive it at an optimum speed. I think we are set for vehicles.
The house is HERS rating of 56. It is our last home. The house stays in the seventies through much of the day.
Of concern: as the electrics take over the market demand for automotive fuel will go down with, of course, a corresponding increase in price to be borne by those who cannot afford to run right out and drop $65, 75, 85,000 or more on an electric car (or truck).
Are you saying that gas is a Giffen good?! In any case there are currently cheaper responses to high gas prices, such as very high mileage cars, use of alternative transportation, and eventually cheap (over lifetime) electrics.
Did you see “otherwise I drive a Smart Car?”
Ten Bears
Can I post your Beer post?