Did U.S. gasoline consumption peak in 2007?
The question is not about peak oil, but just about consumption of gasoline by American drivers. Over the last several decades both miles driven and consumption of fuel have risen pretty steadily. However, one look at the automakers' sales numbers for the first half of 2008 clearly demonstrates that there is a fundamental shift in American behavior. The blend of gas over $4 a gallon and the general economic malaise has sent sales of the biggest, thirstiest vehicles into the toilet. People are also driving the vehicles that they have fewer miles than they have in previouis years. A new study by Cambridge Energy Research Associates indicates that the 2008 gasoline consumption will be lower than the 2007 peak and if oil prices stay at or near their current levels, gasoline consumption will continue to decline in the U.S. in the coming years and may never again reach 2007 levels. Combined with economic factors, the development of new vehicle technologies will almost certainly continue to drive gasoline use downward although, it will likely remain a significant portion of our transportation system for many years to come. [Source: The Auto Channel]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Peekoyle 8:43PM (6/22/2008)
good.
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A.Brien 10:14PM (6/22/2008)
With new products like an inboard hydrogen generator kit sold and install in general stores and mechanics place we can cut gas consumption by 40%-60%.
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Cervus 10:34PM (6/22/2008)
I recall a graph that showed that after the energy crisis of the late 70s, CAFE standards, and the general economic conditions of the early 80s, gasoline consumption dropped precipitously and did not rise to those levels again until the mid-90s.
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greenman_steven 3:41PM (8/31/2008)
Who wasting our fuel look around do you watch land scape management! A Blower(over priced BROOM}it's use's Help to clean up Landscape management(not to populate} Where do they Clean-up their trash,up it up? No, It's just blown in the streets. What should happen(recycle recycle recycle) the debris should be blown back into the lawn or up to recycle.Question,Why are our lakes and parks seeing more trash in them? Who paying us MORE TAXES to pay clean-up, High price for gas(demand/wasted) energy}. Thought technology to improve life not waste.
fuel
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fnc 12:39AM (6/23/2008)
#3 - That was my first thought, people probably said thing along the same lines when the oil shock began in the early 70's. Hopefully, technological advances since then will allow alternatives to take permanent hold.
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stevefazek 2:03AM (6/23/2008)
another thing this goverment should do is to Fine alarm comapnies, Every false alarm costs the town 75 bucks in fuel and man power.
Make the fine for a false alarm 300 dollars, Right now they are just freeloading off the public system.
the 19 bucks a month they charge is pretty much pure profit. All they do is call 911 for you
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BlackbirdHighway 5:21AM (6/23/2008)
Really this question is about peak oil. If this is not caused by peak oil, then at some point whatever you believe is causing the high price of oil, (speculation/dollar fall/lack of drilling in ANWR/etc) will reverse, fuel prices will fall, and demand will go back up.
If it is peak oil, then demand will keep dropping, but not fast enough to match falling production, and prices will continue to climb.
It sure looks like peak oil now, but you can't be certain this is it until at least a couple more years pass.
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stevefazek 5:35AM (6/23/2008)
Peak oil for what? Peak Light sweet crude?
Theres tons of differnt type of energy and we are not running out anytime soon.
People have been talking about there being 10-30 years left of Coal, and oil since the 1850s.
End of 99 cents a gallon gas? Yes
oil is over priced right now 60-80 is the correct price.
right now its just some powerfull people messing with the price.
Oil should eventually come back and match the price of inflation or maybe +1-3% per year.
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EV-1 7:53AM (6/23/2008)
In many european countrys
gas is now way above $ 8.- / gal.(US)
So there.
> @ #2 (A.Brien)
A "hydrogen generator kit" must be something like
the most circumlocatory ways to cut fuelconsumption ever imagined.
And I don't want to think of the cost, nor the complexity and associated trouble(s).
EVERY mechanical work - for example powering the driving wheels of a vehicle -
SHOULD be executed using Electric motors !
We learned that decades ago !
There's NO motor invented, with anything near the efficiency of an electric.
- To start with ->>>
And the BONUSES are wast, with electric motors :
* - VERY reliable ( close to maintainance free )
* - Extremely quiet ( I'm a sound engineer :-) )
* - Compact & Lightweight, PLUS
runs so cool they can be placed very convenient
* - NO EMISSIONS
* - "Incredible" Powerband (will make gearbox, clutch et.c. redundant,
and thus improve overall durability even further)
...and so on, and so forth.
We all realize it's been ten years (!) since the
EV-1 , all electric , blessed the chosen few in California.
BATTERY TECH has come a looong way since then !!
The Obstacle is Big Oil - and
"some powerfull people" (as #8 "stevefazek" puts it)
messing with ev'ry tool they can find to keep us paying ... and paying ... and
keep on paying ... insanely to THEIR profit !
I know for a fact there are Big Truck automakers that are willing to invest billions and billions in building privately financed Highways -> and thus c-r-e-a-t-e
SELF-INDUCED TRAFFIC..
http://userpages.itis.com/burleigh/issues/traffic_bib.html
..which of course will generate more truck-sales,
which of course will generate profit to both oil companies and auto-makers.
Here's one fine product :
http://www.mondotees.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=3494&HS=1
Let's PRESSURE the politicians to earn their pay,
and stand up against shortsighted greedy profit interests.
Automakers should assign resources to green power plants and other rising industries.
But electric cars we should demand Now.
Cheers ! :)
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Fritz 10:38AM (6/23/2008)
Use your favorite search engine and look up "Chevron patent encumberance". I'll never buy another drop of gasoline or diesel from them again. I also generally skip Exxon too.
Also look up RAV-4EV. Several have over 100K mile son them and they are a modern CUV with a/c and heat and all the typical bells and whistles. And electric cars don't work? No - they work - it's just that Chevron sued everyone who tried to use the battery tech that they have locked away. And GM sold the patent to Chevron... Bunch of idiots.
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stas peterson 3:29PM (6/23/2008)
Cervus,
I too remember that graph, but its not quite like you remember. Oil demand decreased for about 18 months, than resumed its upward trend.
That is what will happen once again, for about half a decade. Then the effect of a building flood of electrified autos will cause all energy demand to continue to rise, but the oil demand portion, costing much more, will begin a long decline, as the electric portion grows.
People will conserve for a while. But they will eventually return to their "natural" habits. Crazies who want to reform human nature, and who expect anything different, live in a dream world.
Fidel or Kruschev/Breznev/Gorbachev couldn't under stand why the peasants weren't anxious any longer to form labor brigades, in revolutionary fervor, to volunteer to do brute labor to bring in the crop, without compensation.
It led to 53 consecutive failed sugar crops in Cuba, and continual farm failures from 1919 until 1989, in the Soviet Union. the absolutely longest streak of "bad weather ruining crops", in history.
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