Daily Fuel Economy Tip

Gas Prices Stagnate as of Late

While the price of gas continues to fall from its record high set in mid-July, the rate of the price decline has slowed as of late.  Today’s price of $3.66 is down just 4% over the past month ($3.82) and down only a half percent over the past week ($3.68).

Even with the price of gas falling almost every day since setting the record high of $4.12 on July 17, the national average price of gas is still up over 20% from what it was at the beginning of the year, and is up roughly 30% from what it was 12 months ago.

Currently, every state but Alaska ($4.51) and Hawaii ($4.42) have an average gas price below $4 per gallon.  Delaware is reporting the lowest average price at $3.35 per gallon.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Gas Prices | No Comments »

Higher Gas Prices Leading to More Carpooling or Mass Transit?

As the price of gasoline climbed over the last 12 months, many economists and transportation pundits were expecting a mini-boom in the number of drivers - especially commuters - taking part in carpooling programs and/or using mass transportation more frequently.

With gas prices spending a significant amount of time above the $4 mark, many of us were starting to feel financial pain every time we went to fill up our cars.  And since the easiest way to save on gas is to simply not drive as much, it would certainly make sense if there was a jump in the number of people carpooling and using public transportation.

Unfortunately, common sense didn’t win out this time.

According to a recent poll on GasBuddy.com, the recent bout of high gas prices has done very little to push drivers to carpool or use public transportation.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Drive Less | 2 Comments »

Oil and Gas Prices Being Manipulated Before Presidential Election?

Over the last two months, the price of oil has declined nearly 28%, falling from a record high of $147.22 to Friday’s closing price of $106.23.  Likewise, the price of gasoline has declined more than 11%, falling from a record high of $4.12 to today’s average price of $3.65.

These price declines have come as a relief for many Americans, as they have helped ease the pain at the pump and pushed down inflation in general.

However, as welcome as these price declines have been, some drivers believe they’re coming about due to reasons beyond supply and demand or economic weakness.

According to a recent poll on Daily Fuel Economy Tip, nearly half of us feel that the prices of oil and gasoline are being manipulated leading up to the November Presidental election.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Gas Prices, News, Oil Prices | 19 Comments »

Oil Analysts Can’t Seem to Get it Right

Back during the spring and early summer, as the price of oil climbed higher with each passing day, it seemed that every energy analyst was saying the price of oil would climb to and stay within the $150 to $200 range within months, if not weeks.

Of course, this sort of fed on itself, and was a major driver behind escalating oil prices, which eventually topped out at $147.11 a barrel on July 11.

Since then, the price of oil has fallen to $107.89 - a drop of over 25%. This recent decline, brought about thanks to a stronger dollar, weaker economies and declining worldwide demand, has made many analysts do an about face and predict that oil will now continue to fall and end the year within the $80 to $100 range.

Maybe if their energy analyst gig doesn’t work out, these people can find work as weather forecasters.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Oil Prices | 2 Comments »

The Car That Will Save the Planet

About a year or so ago, I was being interviewed by a radio program out in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the host asked me about what I thought would be the best “energy and transportation” solution to that would get us off oil and gasoline and save the environment.

At the time, I wasn’t sure how to answer, so I gave a very broad response like, “There are many promising technologies out there that are being explored, but until one becomes the indisputable front runner, we should just focus on driving less and buying more fuel efficient cars.”

Clearly, a very PC answer - maybe I’ll run for office some day.

Regardless, I’ve now come up with what I think is the answer to our oil/gas/environmental problems. It’s not exactly revolutionary, and will probably be expensive to implement, but I have yet to come across a better solution.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Alternative Fuels, Creative Ideas | 6 Comments »