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American drivers are doing something we have not done in the last FIFTY SEVEN years except for seven other times – consume less gasoline. gas consumption so far this year is down about 0.2 percent compared to last year, according to the Energy Information Administration. The federal agency is predicting that gas demand will be down 0.4 percent this summer and 0.3 percent for the year. That may not sound like much, but it would be the first time since 1991 that there’s been a decline in annual gas consumption. And this is something that has happened a total of only SEVEN times since 1951! It is clear and obvious that the perfect storm of deflation, including the bursting bubbles in housing, etc and the rise in gas prices due to an increase in foreign consumption has gotten the attention of the average American driver. “Sustained higher gas prices are beginning to show up in lower gas consumption,” said Tancred Lidderdale, an analyst for the Energy Information Administration.Both gas and diesel prices are now at record levels. What is in question is at what price per gallon will American drivers demonstrate a stronger decrease in demand. Some say that it would happen when the price of gas stays above $3 for some period of months. But right here in Southern California I am seeing gas prices above $4 so we may very soon hit that critical mass point. Mike Right, a spokesman for AAA Club of Missouri, said that a decline in gas usage shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. A survey conducted in January by AAA found that many motorists were already deciding to change vacation plans for this summer by planning for shorter trips. “We are starting to see some signs of that,” he said. There are indications that a fundamental shift in consumer driving habits may have started in December, when total miles traveled in the U.S. dropped 3.9 percent compared with the same month a year earlier. Miles traveled in the Midwest were down 5.8 percent. Demand already is increasing for automobiles offering higher gas mileage. The government today plans to release a proposal to raise gas efficiency standards for new cars and trucks, putting the nation’s fleet on track to reach 35 miles per gallon by 2020. At the present time, newly manufactured vehicles in America are required to maintain at least a 27.5 MPG average and SUVs, trucks and vans are required to measure up to a 22.5 MPG minimum average. Democrats have said the new gas economy requirements will save motorists $700 to $1,000 a year in gas costs. While this has been going on many house owners have been living in tents and many car owners have taken to public transport. The increase in people taking busses across the country last year was 4% and this year, so far, it is at 9%. One ongoing concern is that even though Americans may be cutting back on gas consumption, emerging middle classes in faster-growing countries such as China and India are quickly embracing the driving habit and pushing global demand for gas higher. So the question is a very simple one. Do people need to ride the bus and bicycles or simply sit at home and watch television or plot the revolution on the internet or do other things on the internet instead of living their lives in the real world? Or is there something else that they can do to offset rising gas costs? There sure is and it is called Water4Gas
Article Source: http://www.rightarticle.com
Ozzie Freedom, Water4Gas founder, is a "computer geek" and anything that he knows about automobiless is from actually digging into the engine of his own car and tinkering rather than "schooling". Discover one of the best alternative fuel solutions
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