There Must Not Be An Oil Crisis After All

Cross posted at Gadfly's Muse

That is the thought that dominated my mind this morning as I sat and watched the seemingly endless stream of large vehicles dropping off teenagers at our local high school.

Granted, the town in which I live is and has always been known as "yuppie heaven" and so there is no reason why I should expect anything different than what I observed.  But it sure is a saddening sight.  If anyone denies that there is a caste system operative in the United States of America, I would only ask that he or she require their 15 year old or older  to (horrors) ride the bus to school .  At least, that is the dynamic that I imagine is behind this ridiculous situation.

I was on my way to the office when the crossing guard signalled our lane to stop.  The left turn lane from the opposite direction was stretched all the way around a curve  and beyond the next traffic light.  I noticed that there was not a single vehicle with its turn signal operating, of a size even as small as a Dodge Caravan.  Though I did not see any Hummers, yet for all practical purposes it looked like a staging area for a military expedition.  As each successive vehicle turned in front of me, uniformly the sight was the same:  a single parent, overwhelmingly moms, with a single teenager in the passenger seat.

What does this say about us as a society?  Bill O'Reilly is screaming for the oil companies to take a voluntary 20% cut in profits in order to help out "in a national emergency."  What emergency?  As far as these folks evidently are concerned, fuel is plentiful and cheap.

But the whole idea of asking for voluntary cuts in profits from the oil companies is ludicrous.  Aside from their responsibility to maximize profits for their stock holders, the bureaucratic decision process for multi-national oil companies would never allow it to happen in this life time.  But that doesn't mean that a cut in their profits is not possible.  The quickest way to cut oil company profits is to decrease gas consumption.  And it can be done.  Here are some ideas:

• Any time you are driving at less than highway speeds, turn off the air conditioning.  My car has one of those computer readouts that give you a semi-accurate guage of fuel efficiency.  In stop and go traffic the fuel efficiency increases about 12% if the windows are down and the air conditioning is off.  If driving at a sustained, 30 mph average in transiting suburban streets, the fuel efficiency increases to about 16%.  "It's too hot" you say.  Then dress more comfortably and change into your business clothes at the office.  I suspect those who complain about the heat are often the same ones who love to sit in the sauna or the steam room at their local gym anyway.  The answer however is  - deal with it, your parents (or grand parents) did.  We are still in the historical situation where cars were without ac longer than they have had it.

• Cut out one short trip a week.  Any combustion powered vehicle is at its least efficiency during the first 10 minutes of operation or 2 miles of driving, which ever comes first.  Hold off on that sort trip to the grocery store.  Drink something else if you are out of milk.  Do without a loaf of bread, or a (gasp) six pack of beer for a night.  If people diminished their frequency of driving it not only cuts back on fuel costs, it eases traffic congestion which improves fuel efficiency for those who are driving.  The short trips are the most inefficient.  Cut them out wherever and whenever possible.

• Combine a trip with someone else.  Any of those moms transporting their poor darlings to school could have transported another young scholar also, even if the kids didn't like each other.  If you actually know who your neighbor is and can bring yourself to speak to them, ask  if they need something from the store when you go.  My secretary and I are trying to work out a car-pool schedule so as to eliminate having two cars sit at the church all day (it's about a 7 mile drive for me, 3 miles for her).  Look for ways to combine trips.

• Clue the kids into the situation.  As I continued my drive to work I saw several groups of kids waiting at bus stops.  Consistently there were none above the age of about 12 except at one.  (The bus stops for both middle and high schools are the same.)  At this one there were about four or five Hispanic teenagers, laughing and enjoying each others' company while awaiting the bus.  In my thinking that says more about cultural differences among us than anything else.  Why can't the kids be taught some responsibility about this kind of thing also?

• Buy a cheap used third car with much higher fuel efficiency for local quick trips if you just can't part with the Hummer(s).  Even if the cost of insurance, tags and other expenses are taken into consideration such that you basically break even with gas savings, yet the net effect nationally would be to improve the "supply" variable in the "supply vs demand" equation.  If you can afford a Hummer you can afford the small net additional cost of the third car.

The bottom line:  I don't think that it would be very difficult for people to cut back on their automobile fuel consumption at all.  I think a 20-30% decrease is eminently possible with very little true life-style alteration.  I know that automobile fuel is only a portion of the whole problem but it is a significant portion. 

The reason why people won't do this though has nothing to do with its possibility and probable effects.  The reason why people won't do this or other things like it, is because it is an inconvenience.  It is far easier to point the finger at the oil companies, the current administration, or anyone else who "should do something about these terrible gas prices."  But the real problem is much nearer home, and so is the solution.