Time mag: Tire inflation/tuneups same results as drilling

[Heather MC]

by a gnostic
Mon Aug 04, 2008 at 06:59:26 PM PDT
Rush the Lush and the smart-ass Republicans just got back-handed by Time magazine. I love this:

The Tire-Gauge Solution: No Joke

The Bush administration estimates that expanded offshore drilling could increase oil production by 200,000 barrels per day by 2030. We use about 20 million barrels per day, so that would meet about 1% of our demand two decades from now. Meanwhile, efficiency experts say that keeping tires inflated can improve gas mileage by 3%, and regular maintenance can add another 4%. Many drivers already follow their advice, but if everyone else did, we could reduce demand several percentage points immediately. In other words: Obama is right.

a gnostic's diary :: ::
Pogue's Fan wrote a similar diary today and that diarist brought up these statistics:

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, "every pound per square inch of tire underinflation wastes 4 million gallons of gas daily in the U.S." Survey information from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that 27% of the cars on the road have a significantly under-inflated tire.

<....>

"So the production offset is more likely to approach 800 thousand barrels per day..."

So here's what Rush the Lush can discuss on his show tomorrow:

200,000 barrels of oil per day in 10-20 years with new offshore drilling.

vs.

1.7 million barrels of oil per day NOW if people took Obama's advice and both inflated tires and got regular tune-ups.

(800,000 barrels per day if people inflated their tires. 900,000 barrels if people got their vehicles tuned up, extrapolating the 4% statistic from above.)

Let's estimate that down to just 1 million barrels per day maybe due to an aggressive government campaign under a President Obama:

200,000 BPD in 10 years vs. 1 million BPD next week (maybe if the government subsidized this like McSame does for Big Oil?).

Rush must not have been too good in math as a kid. He was probably shooting up heroin back then though so I don't blame him...

[SpiralHawk]

1. "This just more lib-rul fact-based science and stuff." - Rush 'Draft Dodger' Limbaugh

"Real republicon homelanders will do the Right thing, and disregard the evidence so that you -- my loyal dittoheads -- will be free to 'believe' the republicon propangda I will continue to catapult at you through the Excellence in Mindf*ck network. Excuse me now, while I go count my $400 million payoff from the republicon corporate shock-and-awe borg. Smirk."

- Rush 'Draft Dodger' Limbaugh

[TexasObserver]

2. Obama is right. Conservation is our solution.

Oil is a commodity. Its price will always be a worldwide price, even if we could become a major producer of oil, which we can't. If we drill everything that can be drilled, it won't affect the worldwide price of oil much.

[mwb970]

3. You know that. I know that. But most Americans can be easily fooled.

You might as well try to tell them that Obama is not a Muslim.

[TexasObserver]

4. "Conservation saves oil and gas NOW." - the proper response

I think Obama and Democrats in general need to hammer the point over and over, until it sticks: We can save more oil and gas by smart driving than by new drilling, and it is immediately felt, not felt in ten years.

[mwb970]

5. It's so obvious, yet we have to hammer on it to put it across.

What is wrong with this picture?

[TexasObserver]

6. it's the simple things that save energy

1. tire pressure

2. well maintained engine

3. safe, reasonable driving

Those all save gasoline.

In the home, it's using ceiling fans, having good insulation, keeping doors and windows closed when you're heating or cooling, and watching your usage.

These are the things that could cut our energy consumption by 20-30%.