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Is the oil tide turning?
While it is still early to talk about oil prices stabilizing or retreating, there are indications that consumption is beginning to fall. An article in today's Chicago Tribune says, "Americans burn through an average of 9.35 million barrels of gasoline each day, about 200,000 less than they did a year ago." Now that's good news. Why? Because we're figuring out ways to use less. I suspect Americans could cut gas consumption by 5% or even 10% if we just thought about it a little.
Here's an example: Last night several Control Engineering staff members attended a meeting in downtown Chicago. Four of us drove down together in one car. Last year, there was no effort to consolidate trips at all when we attended the same event. OK, that's a small item, but when a hundred million people start thinking like that, we get somewhere.
Here's another: New York City is replacing its cab fleet with hybrids. They will at least halve the gas consumption compared with normal cabs.
Oil prices will probably still bounce up and down with world news and any hiccups in supply infrastructure. I hate to think what a heavy gulf coast hurricane could do. But as we change our behavior, the potential impact will gradually decrease. That's good for everybody.
Is the oil tide turning?
July 18, 2008
While it is still early to talk about oil prices stabilizing or retreating, there are indications that consumption is beginning to fall. An article in today's Chicago Tribune says, "Americans burn through an average of 9.35 million barrels of gasoline each day, about 200,000 less than they did a year ago." Now that's good news. Why? Because we're figuring out ways to use less. I suspect Americans could cut gas consumption by 5% or even 10% if we just thought about it a little.Here's an example: Last night several Control Engineering staff members attended a meeting in downtown Chicago. Four of us drove down together in one car. Last year, there was no effort to consolidate trips at all when we attended the same event. OK, that's a small item, but when a hundred million people start thinking like that, we get somewhere.
Here's another: New York City is replacing its cab fleet with hybrids. They will at least halve the gas consumption compared with normal cabs.
Oil prices will probably still bounce up and down with world news and any hiccups in supply infrastructure. I hate to think what a heavy gulf coast hurricane could do. But as we change our behavior, the potential impact will gradually decrease. That's good for everybody.
Posted by Peter Welander on July 18, 2008 | Comments (0)
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