Thursday, October 30, 2008

You're welcome

Listing to the radio yesterday morning, I learned that gasoline prices here--about $2.10 to $2.20 per gallon--are a full 70 cents lower than they were a year ago. Looks like my (and Pentadad's, and Mitch's) bike riding has been having its desired effect. You're welcome. :^)

How much of an effect? Well, the EIA notes that in July, gasoline deliveries declined by 17.6 million barrels vs. a year before, a 5.7% decrease in overall usage. I would guess that August deliveries will be down in a similar manner.

Notice also that the previous big drop in consumption didn't start with the imposition of CAFE standards in 1975, but rather with the 1979 oil crisis. The next one occurred during the first war with Iraq, when obviously those supplies were not in production. Those who think that government regulations are the key to managing our energy supplies would be well counseled to take a close look at this graph.

Also in good news, I noticed a lot of "deals" at the grocery store while shopping last night. Try as I might, I don't think that I can take any credit for THAT--my appetite while riding is pretty hearty! Maybe people are using this time of short credit, low levels of free cash, and more to start their diets?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

But maybe you can. Maybe the stores are taking advantages of decreased fuel costs to offer competitive deals to attract market share.

Bike Bubba said...

Well, as long as I'm making "plasticman" claims stretched beyond credibility, I'll take some credit for that one too. :^)

Anonymous said...

Well, don't forget that I've been taking the train, too, so that's gotta be worth at least 10 to 15 cents of the decrease right there!

Bike Bubba said...

Yeah, but your favored, environmentally unsound means of transport requires a lot of coal and natural gas to get going. Could you lay off, so we can get some decent utility rates? Winter is coming, ya know!

:^)