Remember all the bravado that Bob Lutz unleashed when we got our first glimpse of the Volt back in early 2007? Lutz has been the car's biggest champion since then, but he's thinking that there could be some tough news coming soon for this kind of technology. While the Volt is not named in an interview with Lutz by the LA Times that was published last week (so don't go starting any rumors), Lutz was pretty clear-eyed about what the recent dip in gas prices could mean: "We may hate high fuel prices, but they've been driving us in the right direction when it comes to fuel economy. If we suddenly went to $1 or $1.50 a gallon, that would be really bad."

This is not a new topic, and we're in agreement with Maximum Bob on this one. We've written as much plenty of times, and we often refer back to this interview with David Cole where he talks about the benefits of an oil price floor for a barrel of oil. He suggested $40 or $45, but that was back in June 2007; more recent estimates I've heard from others put a reasonable limit at $60 or so. Whatever happens with oil prices, we can be pretty sure that a lot of old habits will return if gas keeps dropping. What will you change?

[Source: LA Times]

Photo by CoreBurn. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

Hurricane Ike has done its structural damage to Texas and other areas, but the aftereffects are still raging. While gasoline prices these last few months in the U.S. have not been climbing as crazily as they were earlier this year, the South's most recent hurricane is causing pump prices of up to $5 a gallon in some areas - from Florida to Tennessee. In Knoxville, TN, for example, prices jumped from $3.66 to $4.99 overnight thanks to fears of a supply shortage and news that oil rigs are drifting in the Gulf of Mexico. While it's unlikely that prices will remain this high for long, Ike and other hurricanes this season remind drivers of fuel-efficient vehicles why their cars are a little piece of security in tough times. If you've got a low-mpg ride in an area with $5 gas today, perhaps it's a good time to dust off that bike for the ride to work.

[Source: AP]

Nope, this isn't a map showing the temperature that gas flows out of the nozzle into our car's tank to boost the myth that it's better to fuel early in the morning. No, this is a U.S. map (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) that shows color-coded gasoline prices (by county): the redder the color, the more expensive the gallon of gas while the greener the color, the cheaper the gas is. If you go to the site and zoom in on the map, you can drill down to the municipality level. Zoom in again and you'll end up with color-coded gas stations. My search found gas over $4.20/gal for Regular gas in Washington state, and under $3.12 near Dallas. The interactive map lets you even choose four different fuel types: regular, medium, premium and diesel, although E85 and biodiesel additions would have been a nice touch. Thanks to John and Larry for the tip.

[Source: Gasbuddy]

Photo by iboy_daniel. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

All of those reduced-fuel-use school buses (examples here and here) can't help some school systems continue on as normal in the current economy. Thanks to high fuel prices - among other reasons - the four-day "work" week that is gaining currency at businesses nationwide is spreading to at least 15 more school districts across the U.S., according to a new article by the AP. Last year, the AP says, around 100 districts dropped a day. For one school system highlighted in the article, cutting a day out of the school week (while making each class the rest of the week ten minutes longer) will save $65,000 in fuel costs (I'm guessing per year, but the AP doesn't say. With only 700 students, I can't imagine they're paying that much per week or month).

The article mentions other cost-saving methods that schools and parents are turning to this year. On transportation issues, the article mentions that field trips are being slashed while weekend athletic trips might be done through private car pools instead of school buses at some schools. At a school in Alabama, the daily buses to and from school will no longer stop at each house but at neighborhood stops instead (this makes a lot of sense) and at a school in California, high school students won't get to use the bus at all (not so sure about this one, from an environmental viewpoint).

[Source: AP]

Let's see. You're a gas station owner who wants to get out of the petrol business and into something a little more eco-friendly. Electric cars, say. How do you mark the transition? For Milton Grin, owner of a Valero in Kansas City, Missouri, the answer was to attract attention to his new venture by selling his current product at discount prices - like $1.99 for a gallon of gas (diesel prices remained high). To take advantage of the media and customer attention his sale generated, Grin had three EVs on display at the pumps. To me, this is a pretty good way to highlight the difference between fueling at a pump and charging from a plug. You need gas? You gotta drive somewhere and wait in line. You need electricity, just plug it in. The gimmick worked, and the response was so huge that Grin had to stop the sale in the early evening because of the traffic swarm.

See news stories of the cheap gas sale here, here and here. Tipster Andrew (whose last name is also Grin, according to his Flickr profile) has also posted a collection of photos of the event over on Flickr. Thanks, Andrew.

[Source: KCTV5]

Photo by Maveric2003. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

It wasn't too long ago that the Good Lord came out against sinful gas guzzlers. But, if people like Rocky Twyman are to be believed, then perhaps God is rethinking His policies. Twyman is a choir director who leads the "Pray at the Pump" movement, which goes to gas stations and prays for lower fuel prices. Twyman has been touring the country trying to get God's attention these past few months. Back in April, he was in San Francisco, in June he was in Seattle, and this past Wednesday, he and a group of supporters were in D.C. for a "victory celebration" over the recent dip in gas prices, according to the AP. He said that if the whole country prayed, we could bring gas down to under $2 a gallon. The logical question I have to Twyman, then, is does God favor all the people in those countries where gas prices are like 12 cents a gallon over Americans?

Our green car buddy Jay Leno called Twyman's movement George Bush's energy plan, which promoted Twyman to pray for Leno. Leno isn't the only one poking fun.

Also, there's a short news video about Twyman after the jump.

[Source: AP]

It seems that oil prices are going down these days but gas prices are still high at the pump. But what's the maximum price we want to pay at the pump before we look for alternatives (i. e. public transport)? In the case of Britain, insurance company Esure found that this price was £1.75 per liter. If one quid (the British slang for 1 pound) is about $1.93 and there are 3.79 liters in a gallon, this makes $12.80. Currently, UK's current average price is £1.15, which is $8.4/gal. Other interesting facts from this research showed that 17 percent would drive even at £2/liter, almost $15/gal. Esure then lists a few fuel-saving tips. Find the press release after the jump.

[Source: Esure.com]

I'm not familiar with Richard Viguerie, but he's a proud conservative and more than willing to engage in some "attack the liberals" maneuvers to complain about high gas prices. Since I get a bit of flack from our readers about airing my leftwing views, I thought I'd highlight Viguerie's argument - don't worry, I'll get back to my standard Republican bashing in a post later today :)

In any case, Viguerie's point is that some on the left see high gas prices as a good thing, and so therefore we're totally responsible for the high prices. He does hate on corn ethanol for a bit, and polishes Reagan's memory. He goes through the standard talking points about driling in ANWR and letting the market run rampant decide what the price of energy should be, then says this: "Liberals raised taxes on gasoline so high that the government makes roughly four times as much on each gallon as the oil companies do."

Look, I'm willing to let conservatives have their say, but this just seems slippery as all get out to me. If I remember correctly, the federal gas tax is around 18 cents a gallon, right? In 2007, Exxon earned $1,300 per second. I know that not all of Exxon's profits come from gasoline sales, but come on. I'm sure that in some technical way Viguerie could be right, but saying that our cash-starved governments are somehow riding high compared to the Exxons of the world is amazing. Simply amazing.

[Source: ConservativeHQ.com]

Everything old is new again.

A few years ago (can't find the link, sorry), we had a story about a service where people could pay now for way more gasoline than they needed (say, 100 gallons or more) and then this fuel would be stored for them somehow and would be available to them at a later date - most likely when the fuel price was higher. A new company, MyGallons, is now offering the same sort of deal. The US News & World Report is all over it.

One difference between MyGallons and previous fuel price lock deals is the wide availability of participating gas stations, over 200,000, according to the MyGallons site. On top of pre-paying for your fuel, you also need to pay $30 or $40 for the annual membership fee and the price you pay for fuel is "based on the current average price of self-serve regular unleaded gas in your home area," MyGallons says.

How does MyGallons make money? By taking members' money and investing it in oil and other energy companies, through those annual fees and through website advertising. Investing money back into the companies that make such big bucks off of high gas prices sure does seem like a vicious circle, doesn't it?

[Source: US News & World Report, MyGallons]

Photo by ClevelandSGS. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

Angela Eversole thought she had it all figured out: she needed gas, and was alledgedly willing to give up a little sex to get it. Unfortunately for her, the deal she was setting up for "a $100 gasoline card and other gifts" was being watched by the police there in Fort Wright, Kentucky. She was arrested and charged with prostitution and, get this, for "doing business without an occupational license," according to the AP. She's pleaded not guilty. USAToday has more.

We knew that a green car could make a man a bit more popular with the ladies, but this is something else entirely. Who knew hybrids could promote moral behavior?

[Source: WLEX]

Left: "We can't drill our way out of this!"
Right: "We can't conserve our way out of this!"
Chorus: "We must innovate our way out of this!"

(Maybe, but how long will that take? What will it cost? Who will pay?)

Democrats: "Big Oil's fault! Confiscate their profits!"
Republicans: "Environmentalists' fault! Drill here, drill now, pay less!"
Chorus: "Speculators' fault! Pass a law!"

(So, investing in things -- stocks, bonds, collector cars, commodities such as oil -- that may, or may not, increase in value in the future should be illegal?)

The price of just about anything is mostly about supply and demand. This is Rule #1 of Economics 101 -- which they made me take, along with English, history and a few other useful things, in engineering school:

1. Demand goes up, supply doesn't: price goes up
2. Demand goes down, supply doesn't: price goes down
3. Supply goes up, demand doesn't: price goes down

Oil will bring whatever buyers are willing to pay and sellers are willing to take, and buyers are willing to pay very dearly these days. Nearly all economic activity runs on oil, and it is extremely difficult for any society to reduce its usage without cheap and plentiful alternatives.

Petroleum products are not just in transportation tanks; they are in almost all consumer products. Take off your jacket, check your watch, dial your phone, boot up your computer, plug in your iPod – these things and nearly everything else contain them as fundamental elements.

Most things consume oil as they are manufactured, and all things consume it as fuel in shipment to market. And so, as we have been learning all too painfully lately, as the price of oil goes up, the price of everything follows in the same direction. So, given that the price of oil depends mostly on supply and demand, what can we do to drag it back down? Reduce demand? Increase supply? Yes, and yes! Anyone who thinks we can make enough difference by working just one end of that equation is wishfully thinking.

Continue reading after the jump.

Photo by ^Riza^. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

The seemingly relentless march of gas prices in the upward direction has become, well, not quite so relentless. For now, gas prices are hovering around the $4/gallon mark, but what's in store for the rest of 2008? A national survey has found that "a sizable number" of Americans think that the end of summer (Labor Day) will bring $5/gallon gasoline. Of course, this doesn't mean prices will hit that mark, but a similar study conducted by the same group in January found that 71 percent of Americans correctly predicted gas would hit $4/gallon by summer. So there's that.

The survey was conducted by Opinion Research Corporation (ORC) at the behest of the Civil Society Institute, a nonprofit and nonpartisan think tank, and its Citizens Lead for Energy Action Now (CLEAN) project. Full survey details will revealed tomorrow.

[Source: Civil Society Institute, Newton, Mass.]

China raised fuel prices by 16.7 percent Thursday in order to cope with the rising cost of oil. The increase in regulated fuel prices is China's first hike in eight months and its sharpest ever one-off rise. The move eased global crude oil prices, which dropped $5. The 16.7 percent increase takes the pump rate for gasoline to about 75 U.S. cents a liter, still a quarter cheaper than in the United States and about one-third what UK motorists pay. Prices have doubled since 2003, but crude has more than quadrupled.

China's neighbors had been asking for this raise by scaling back subisidies, but the general thought was that Beijing was holding back on these measures for the sake of avoiding social unrest during the Olympic Games in August. China's rapid growth is considered one of the main reasons for oil's surge from $20 a barrel six years ago to the current record high of nearly $140.

[Source: AOL Money]

Photo by ^Riza^. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

Man, expensive fuel has all sorts of unexpected impacts. People stealing four thousand gallons of diesel in LA. More people running out of gas on the side of the road. More four-day work weeks. And now, ta da, gas stations that don't accept credit cards.

Well, there's at least one station that doesn't: a small shop in Charleston, West Virgina, according to the AP. The problem is the way that credit companies get their money, which is a percentage of the total sale (that's why there's usually a $5 minimum purchase, so the store can make at least some money after the credit company has taken their chunk). The problem for gas stations is that higher gas prices mean that the credit companies are getting more pennies per dollar sold. Sadly, for the station owners, the station's mark up is a set amount (the AP says around 11 or 12 cents a gallon) and so doesn't grow when the price climbs. With $4 gas, the credit card companies get about 10 cents a gallon. It's easy to do the math and see that the station owner isn't exactly rolling in dough here. While the AP could only find one station that has banned plastic money, a lot of station owners are not happy with the way things are headed. Don't be surprised if this trend grows right along with gas prices.

[Source: AP]

So you think $4.50 a gallon is tough to swallow? How about nearly $15/gallon? That's what drivers in some parts of south-west England and Wales are faced with this week. A strike by tanker drivers who deliver fuel to Shell stations has left many stations in the region running out of gas and diesel. We all know what happens when fuel supplies run low but demand doesn't; it's economics 101. This time around, station owners have started ramping up the prices to as much as £1.99 a litre or $14.76 per US gallon. Talks between the union and the trucking company are ongoing, but at this point it looks like the strike will be continuing through this weekend.

[Source: AutoCar]