Don't Look Now...

[RobertSmalls]

Here's a fun infographic and some DOE data, both of which show that gasoline consumption is on the decline.

People do change their gas consumption habits over time, when faced with sustained high prices. Unfortunately, when someone buys a new SUV or pickup truck, it will take over a decade to get it out of our fleet. When someone builds a new house in the exurbs, it'll be there, and probably occupied, for the better part of a century. It takes a very long time for our society as a whole to respond to energy prices.

[Frank Lee]

Takes extra long when a million of the locals ran out and bought new Silveradopes, Subdivisions, and Yuck-ons in the last two years.

The scary part isn't the oil industry bracing for a drop in consumption...

it's the gummint dreaming up new ways to screw the motorist, likely via mileage-based taxation.
************************************************** ********

U.S. government policy is pushing gasoline consumption "down, down, down," says Ed Feo, a partner with law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP, who advises clients on renewable-energy policy. "There isn't a single policy I can think of that supports increasing gasoline use."

This guy is an idiot. Look at the many policies/programs that favor unfettered reproduction and immigration, as well as policies that promote sprawl.

Between 1990 and 2000, the population grew at the same 13% rate, but miles driven rose only 28% and gasoline demand by 17%.

"Only"? "ONLY"?!?

The lost business from falling gasoline demand has contributed to the demise of at least one oil refiner. Flying J Inc. filed for bankruptcy reorganization in December. It closed its refinery in Bakersfield, Calif., and hasn't said when or if it will restart production. Larger Sunoco Inc. says if it can't sell a refinery in Tulsa, Okla., by the end of the year, it will shut it down entirely.

Do the Palins and Joe Plumbers of America know about this? (The Ultimate Solution To Everything: Drill!, Baby, Drill!!!; and put up more refineries while yer at it!!!) Not.

[pgfpro]

In my area gas just went up 10 cents overnight from $2.59 to $2.69

I'm sure its not done going up either.

It was at $2.66 for ever then went down to $2.59 a week ago.

I have been getting a bunch of heat from my local friends saying what are you doing building a car that's more fuel efficient for?

I feel like a Noah building and ark and its just starting to rain.LOL

[MadisonMPG]

Originally Posted by pgfpro

In my area gas just went up 10 cents overnight from $2.59 to $2.69

I'm sure its not done going up either.

It was at $2.66 for ever then went down to $2.59 a week ago.

I have been getting a bunch of heat from my local friends saying what are you doing building a car that's more fuel efficient for?

I feel like a Noah building and ark and its just starting to rain.LOL

It's just starting to sprinkle. Oh, let me get on.

[wagonman76]

Originally Posted by wdb

I'm going by anecdotal evidence, but there was a fair bit of it back in the price spike of Aught Eight. A lot of newspaper articles about people who had been routinely spending $60 or $70 to fill up their duallie pickups but could not bear the thought of going into the triple digits. They took to partially filling the tank and/or parking the beasties. Also a bunch of stories about old pumps that either could not handle triple digits or else could not handle $4/gallon.

Google "$100 fillup" for a...

...fillup of stories.

There was a little station near the small town of Vanderbilt (about 15 miles from me) whose pumps could apparently not handle over $3/gallon. This was after Katrina. They had a note on the pump that they had set the price to half, they will double it at the register. Problem was double the pump price didn't jell with what the sign said, so I went somewhere I could trust.

I wonder if people who don't fill the tank realize that it wastes fuel every time you stop somewhere, including the gas station. But I guess if you're in an area with a lot of gas theft, you won't be out as much if they hit you.

[theycallmeebryan]

I was just thinking about the trends of the past 6 years...

The crude oil price directly reflects gasoline prices at the pump, obviously. Over the past 6 years, there were a few times when the average US price of gasoline at the pump was as high as 6% the cost of a barrel of crude oil. This was when the price of crude was very low, around 32-36$/barrel, but has happened a few other times as well. The lowest margin seems to be about 3%, when prices were high.

I think the high margin at low prices has something to do with the national average $0.45/gal in taxes included in the price (from what i understand, these are taxes that don't fluctuate... IE: its not a %?). So if the price is low, the tax cost becomes more of a % of the total price, and opposite for higher prices.

http://www.GasBuddy.com/gb_retail_pr...me=48&units=us