Yesterday's gas price

Yesterday's average gas price in the US was $3.28, up 34 cents from a year ago, when it was $2.94. The all time high was $4.11 on July 17th, 2008. But what about state by state?

Yesterday's gas price, state by state.

State	Regular
Alaska	$3.965
Alabama	$3.117
Arkansas	$3.131
Arizona	$3.201
California	$3.641
Colorado	$3.291
Connecticut	$3.567
District of Columbia	$3.453
Delaware	$3.207
Florida	$3.284
Georgia	$3.193
Hawaii	$4.079
Iowa	$3.163
Idaho	$3.345
Illinois	$3.360
Indiana	$3.247
Kansas	$3.107
Kentucky	$3.216
Louisiana	$3.122
Massachusetts	$3.334
Maryland	$3.236
Maine	$3.380
Michigan	$3.282
Minnesota	$3.209
Missouri	$3.011
Mississippi	$3.118
Montana	$3.426
North Carolina	$3.277
North Dakota	$3.310
Nebraska	$3.275
New Hampshire	$3.273
New Jersey	$3.175
New Mexico	$3.027
Nevada	$3.453
New York	$3.587
Ohio	$3.204
Oklahoma	$3.082
Oregon	$3.523
Pennsylvania	$3.337
Rhode Island	$3.395
South Carolina	$3.061
South Dakota	$3.329
Tennessee	$3.083
Texas	$3.091
Utah	$3.222
Virginia	$3.174
Vermont	$3.412
Washington	$3.576
Wisconsin	$3.238
West Virginia	$3.379
Wyoming	$3.345

Q and A about crude oil and gas prices

Q: Do you think governments are allowing oil fields to decline? What alternatives are there to the government’s action/inaction.

A: How would the government prevent oil fields from declining? The presence of oil is due to geological processes not political will.

Oil fields are not like tanks that can be easily emptied. They are more like sponges. (Picture using a straw to extract all the water from a sponge!) Extracting oil depends on pressure inside the field forcing the oil out. This works well enough at the start, but as pressure decreases, less oil comes out. Sometimes pressure can be maintained by injecting seawater or carbon dioxide. However, you can never extract all the oil from a field. There always comes a point when more effort is put into extracting the oil than is economically justifiable.

Q: Aren't we discovering more oil fields all the time?

A: Yes, but not enough to keep up with what we're using. Worldwide discovery peaked in 1964. Every year after that, we have discovered less than the year before. Right now we discover 1 barrel of oil for every five barrels of oil we use.

Q: What is per capita oil production and what significance does it have?
A: The amount of oil produced per person. Per capita oil production began declining in the late 1970s. If world population had remained constant, we would now have more oil available per person. But because the world population is rapidly increasing, there is less oil available per person than there was in the 1970s.

Q: The U.S. has 200 years of coal left, so why can't we just replace the oil with coal?

A: If coal were to replace oil then it would last closer to 50 years than 200. Also, while coal can be used for some applications that oil is currently used for, oil is the best fuel for transportation. It would be impractical to power cars with coal.

Lead Foot Withdrawal

Everyone knows that the first and foremost trick in the hypermiler's book is a light right foot. It's simple, don't put the pedal to the metal and you will save on gas. Driving a gas-sipper helps a lot too. But what if you like the sound of a racing engine? The Soundracer V8 is the perfect car accessory for you. You can drive like a feather-footed granny, but sound like Michael Andretti!

Time Tested Electric Car

Here is a car for someone who is thinking of going electric, but wants a vehicle which has passed the test of time. It's range is pretty good too - 100 miles per charge.
The Waverly Electric Car is being sold on Ebay right now. But if you like it act fast - it is the only one in existance.

Here's what the car's seller has to say:

...THIS IS A VERY FUN CAR. IT WILL MAKE PEOPLE STOP IN THE ROAD AND SCRATCH THEIR HEADS. THIS CAR IS A 1913 WAVERLEY ELECTRIC AND IS THE ONLY ONE KNOWN OF THIS YEAR AND BODY STYLE. THE CAR IS 96V AND HAS ALL BRAND NEW BATTERYS (2000.00) AND NEW CHARGER (1000.00). IT RUNS, DRIVES, AND STOPS VERY WELL. NEW 34X4 TIRES ALL AROUND LOOK GREAT. THE TOP SPEED IS ABOUT 25 MPH AND GOES AROUND 100 MILES ON A CHARGE. THE AMP AND VOLT METER BOTH WORK WELL. ALL LIGHTS INSIDE AND OUT WORK ALSO. THE CAR DOES NOT HAVE A HORN IT HAS A BELL THAT HAS A BUTTON ON THE FLOOR. THIS IS HANDY BECAUSE PEOPLE WONT HERE YOU. THE CAR MAKES NO SOUND AT ALL WHEN IT IS RUNNING AND WONT OVER HEAT (GREAT FOR PARADES). EVERYONE SAYS IT LOOKS LIKE CINDERELLA'S CARRIAGE.

Does your car burst into flames?

Yesterday during your daily commute some dip**** drinking coffee and talking on his cellphone ran into the back of your car at a red light...it was just a bump, no big deal right? But what if you knew that there was a risk of your car bursting into flames in your garage as a result of yesterday's fender bender?

It sounds pretty hysterical but that's the way the media is portraying the Chevy Volt.

What really happened is that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration did a pretty thorough crash test -the battery pack was penetrated 5 inches during the "crash" followed by a 360º rollover. Then the car was shoved into storage for a week without any discharging of the battery or repairs to the coolant leakage....Would you put a car in your garage if it was leaking gasoline and brake fluid?

CEO Dan Akerson put it this way: He insisted that the cars are safe and that the fires happened only after extreme tests.

If there are any Volt owners out there that won't rest easy they can get a loaner car or even ask GM to buy back their car...maybe they can trade it in for a Nissan Leaf. After all according to the National Fire Protection Association during 2010, there were 184,500 fires among all the vehicles on the road in the US. Most of that was from liquid fuel.

Volvo FH16

The Volvo FH16 is the world's most powerful production assembly line truck, boasting 700 horsepower. And it achieves all that power while meeting strict engine emissions requirements. It gets 7 MPG or uses 14.3 GPHM ( gallons per hundred miles). That means it only guzzles about twice the gas of a large SUV like a Hummer H2, but it is far, far more capable as a prime mover than a mere SUV. The FH16 really gets remarkable fuel economy for the loads it can haul. Saving on gas while getting the job done ... way to go Volvo!

One trucker who works on the demanding, hilly Norwegian west coast reports that the Volvo FH16 saves him 5 liters every 100km even though he he has to drive kilometre-long gradients of between 6 and 10 per cent.



Like spending your hard earned money on gas? Us neither, make sure to read tomorrow's post on Save on Gas.

Fuel Efficient Driving Tips from a Trucker

Truckers know how to drive fuel efficiently. The trucking industry depends on minimizing fuel costs for generation of competitive advantage. We can all learn to save on gas by picking up a tip or two from the truckers!



Think that 7 mpg is good fuel economy? Maybe when you are hauling 50 tons. Tomorrow's post has information on the Volvo FH16-700, a powerful truck with the I-shift transmission that you saw in today's video.

Terminator Urges Detroit to Embrace Fuel Economy

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the current governor of California, urges Detroit to concentrate more on fuel efficiency.



If you like foreign films or want to find out how to harness your vehicle's force to Save on Gas make sure to read tomorrow's post.

Vehicle Miles Travelled : Pulse of the Nation

Our economy depends on transport and travel. If goods and people do not move, nothing can be done. This is still true even in this era of the Internet. Vehicle miles travelled in a period of time gives the total mileage covered by vehicles. Watching highway vehicle miles travelled is like watching an electrocardiogram ... it lets us see the beating pulse of our nation.



The chart above comes from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. It shows monthly data collected on the total number of miles travelled by all vehicles on US highways.

Notice how every year tends to have a similar shaped down-spike and upper peak. The down spike seems to be in January and February, probably because of winter weather. One interesting thing to notice is that the down spike from 2010 is the lowest in 6 years. Perhaps because everyone is trying to Save on Gas.

Make sure to read tomorrow's blog post to find out what advice the Governor of California has for Detroit.

Follow Oil from Well to Tanker

This video shows the path crude oil takes from wells in Ghawar, one of the world's largest oil fields in the desert of Saudi Arabia, to waiting supertankers on the shores. Miles and miles of pipeline crossing empty desert ... and because of that, we have gasoline to move our cars.