Price of Gas and Vehicle Size

Yesterday was Saturday November 01, 2008.  As usual after getting up early (tomorrow daylight savings comes to an end), spending a few hours in front of the computer and reading a book (the Internet is great but I still like the ease of access to information, carrying and marking offered by paper) headed to run some errands and pick up groceries for the week.

While driving I noticed that the price of unleaded fuel on half dozen or so service stations was hovering just above the $2.00 mark.  That is relief welcomed by most Americans.  A couple months ago the price of that same gasoline was hovering in this area above $3.50.  Yesterday I heard on the radio a news summary on a Public Broadcasting Station (PBS) that some oil companies had made billions of Dollars on profits last quarter.  It will be interesting to see the profit results for next quarter if the price of fuel remains low.

So one might ask what has changed in the past few weeks?

The logic behind asking this question is to attempt to understand the events that lead to the drop in price so we can maintain / repeat them to help so many Americans get back on their feet.

Last I checked the Bush administration with all its poor decisions and policies is still in power and will be for about a couple additional months.  No new refineries have opened in the past few weeks.  As a matter of fact no new refineries have opened at least in the past eight (8) years.  Elections are still a few days away and the presidential, senates, congress, state, … political candidates are still attempting to convince Americans that CHANGE IS ON ITS WAY.  With perhaps very few exceptions, which certainly do not include the presidential candidates and running mates, most candidates have been around in politics for years and are responsible for the state of affairs in our country.

The oil companies in the US are the same.  They have been merging and some have changed names.  A few months ago when gasoline prices peaked, several oil companies came up with adds to inform the Naïve American that they are interested in alternate fuels.  These oil companies have allocated resources to drop oil (an oil company?), provide alternate energy such as electricity, wind, and thermal (I have probably missed a few).

I was at my local warehouse superstore today and noticed a large pickup truck on display.  The vehicle was huge; had four doors and a cargo bed.  I’m not into trucks but noticed the truck had a 5.7-liter gasoline engine.  I didn’t pay attention to the sticker indicating the EPA estimated city consumption, but (based on physics) it could not be too good on the wallet.

What does a pickup truck have to do with the price of gas you might ask?  Perhaps more that what Naive Americans want to believe.

I do most of my weekly driving during rush hour.  As most of my fellow drivers, I am on a stop-and-go mode while commuting about thirty (30) minutes each way to and from work.  It does not take too long to figure out that one (1) individual (the driver) occupies most vehicles.  Very few have two (2) occupants.  As the type of vehicle on the roads; about half (trying to show the best possible scenario) might be cars (i.e., sedans and coupes).  The rest are Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs), pickup trucks, and minivans.  With the exception of minivans which in general do no boast large engines (with the possible exception of some driven by soccer moms) SUVs and pickup trucks tend to have quite large (and powerful) engines.  Acceleration and speed is of essence while attempting to get to work on time during rush hour.

So whom should the Naive American blame for the oil dependency our country has experienced since at least the early 1950′s?  Should we blame it on politicians, oil companies, lobbyists, or our mutual neighbor Mr. And Mrs. Jones?  When you get a chance do some research on a relative large country in Latin America (Brazil), which was recently striped of it’s status as a “Developing Country.”  Why you might ask?  Well among other reasons they do not depend on foreign oil.  Most of their energy comes from alternate sources (including natural gas).