MapMPG - How Far will a Gallon of Gas Take You?
How far you can travel on a gallon of gas? What if you improved your mileage by 20%? What if you bought a new car - how does that compare to your existing car? This isn’t hard to figure out, and FuelClinic.com will do this for you, but what if you wanted to see what this looks like on a map?
Today I received an interesting note from Jay Hoffman at ESRI about a new website they are beta testing called MapMPG.com
ESRI has an interesting new web site called MapMPG.com that maps the distance two different cars can drive on one gallon of gas. This rather unique and useful application compares the mpg’s on your specific neighborhood streets.
I compared my 2001 Toyota Tacoma to a newer Toyota Prius to produce this map of my local area.
Select one vehicle as Vehicle 1, and another as Vehicle 2, enter a street address and zip code, and you’ll see a graphic representation of how far you can get on one gallon of gas, based on the roads in your area.
Right now the site uses EPA estimated MPG figures for each vehicle, but Mr. Hoffman indicated that his team is seeking comments and may be able to modify the interface to be more usable.
ESRI is a world-leader in digital mapping for large organizations and government agencies, and has been doing scientific GIS and mapping long before anyone else.
What do you think? Comments are open.
The Case for “Future-Proof” Flex Fuel Vehicles (FFVs)
Over the next few years you’ll see a change at your local gas stations as more alcohol-blended fuel pumps are installed across the nation. Alcohol-blended fuels like E85 are already available in some areas, and more are coming to market as more FFVs are sold in the United States.
US based manufacturers have committed to making 50% of their new autos FFVs by 2010 and and 85% by 2012. In addition, there is proposed legislation called the Open Fuel Standard Act which will mandate all cars sold in America meet the same goals, so this will mean that all imports sold in the US will meet the same FFV standard. (You can help support this legislation here.)
Since FFV is an widely available and mature technology (there are already millions of FFVs on the road in the US - you may be driving one), adding the capability to all new vehicles sold in the US doesn’t add notably to the cost of making new cars (usually about $100) - and provides a way for auto manufactures to “green-up” their product lines.
Drivers of FFVs will be able to choose what fuel to buy, based on price at the pump, performance needs, personal preference, etc. - just like shopping for any other commodity. You’ll be able to mix E85 with E10 (the current flavor of gasoline almost everywhere in the US) and newer alternative blends like E25 or M50. Using FFV technology, your car will automatically adjust your engines settings to run properly on any combination of gasoline and alcohol fuels.
Unlike more exotic alternative fuels like compressed hydrogen or natural gas, drivers of FFVs are not stuck on a virtual “energy island” of specialized refueling stations. You will be able to travel freely, just like today, as far and wide as you like - choosing your favorite blend of alcohol fuels as you go - or using straight gasoline where no other choice exists.
So if your next car has an engine that burns liquid fuel, makes sure it is “future proof” and check that it’s a Flex-Fuel Vehicle before you buy it, or else you’ll be left without options at the pump when the alcohol-blended fuels hit the wider market.
KillerStartups Reviews: FuelClinic.com
FuelClinic.com was recently reviewed at KillerStartups.com, a website that collects information about young web startups and publishes short reviews. People can show their support by “voting” for their favorite site - just click the “+” sign under the vote tally near the top left side of the page. Sites with more votes get more prominently displayed.
Turning Oil into Salt
I’m home from the Energy Freedom Summit in Chicago with so much material and information that it’ll take me weeks to digest, understand, summarize, and disseminate it to you. Let me start with a “sound-bite” sized summary of the theme of the conference…
Once was a time when nations went to war over salt. Seriously.
Until the 19th century salt was a strategic commodity much like oil is today. Salt was required to preserve meat - and preserved meat was required to allow armies to march. Salt was required for societies to grow beyond traditional collectives, and salt was required to store, transport, and sell meat that could not be consumed immediately. Wars were indeed fought over salt, and those nations with large salt reserves had tremendous political and economic prosperity - and power over those who needed their salt - much like countries with oil do today.
So, what happened to change the world, and strip salt of it’s strategic importance?
New technologies were invented which made salt unnecessary for food preservation. The invention of electricity, refrigeration, canning, and other preservative technologies forever changed the world, and salt became just another freely traded commodity like we are accustomed to today.
You can still preserve your meats with salt if you wanted to, but most choose to refrigerate it.
Today we find ourselves in a 19th-century dilemma again, where oil has replaced salt as a global strategic commodity, and where the trade in this commodity is tightly controlled in order to weild political and economic power.
Oil’s strategic value stems from it’s monopoly in the transportation sector. This monopoly gives the petrocrats that control OPEC and the bulk of world oil reserves unacceptable power over the global economy.
How exactly can we “turn oil into salt”. The answer is surprisingly simple and familiar - by using technology to provide fuel choice thru Flex Fuel Vehicles (FFV) and plug-in hybrid w/ FFV engines or new 100% electric vehicles (EV).
“Future-Proof” Flex Fuel Vehicles (FFVs) keep to a liquid-fuels based technology that is no different from the norm today. The element of “choice” is created by allowing drivers to decide what type of fuel to consume, with options ranging from straight gasoline (no change from existing habits) to a variety of blends of alcohol/gasoline like E25, E85, M50. FFV technology does not restrict auto manufactures in any way - they can make any variety of vehicle they’d want, from scooters to Hummers.
Plug-in Hybrids w/ FFV engines (similar to the Prius Plug-In) move the hybrid technology forward by decoupling the vehicle from the gasoline pump. With a plug-in hybrid, you can choose to recharge your car using your residential electricity. For distances greater than your battery capacity, your hybrid will switch to using it’s FFV engine, where you’ll have the same fuel options of non-hybrid FFV’s.
Electric Vehicles (EVs) (like these from an auto show earlier this year) are quite different and have no engine and require no liquid fuels on board. Instead they have bigger and better batteries and electric motor(s) which meet commuting needs of most Americans, and are recharged at home or at specialized recharging stations around town. This option allows a “no-oil” choice, as your car is recharged by the power grid. (The power grid is of course fueled somehow, in the U.S. usually natural gas, hydro-electric, coal or nuclear.)
At this point, when there are a variety of ways to power your vehicle, gasoline will have to compete with other forms of fuel that are not completely controlled by “big-oil”. As in Brazil, market forces will control costs and create a vigorous new-energy economy. Consumers decide what fuel to buy, based on a variety of reasons they get to determine.
When consumers have a choice and a real alternative to replace 100% gasoline, oil will no longer be a strategic commodity and it will be forced to be valued competitively, just like salt.
Once Bitten… Will Americans Continue to Conserve Fuel?
As oil prices continue to slide away from the peak crude costs earlier this year, and as the price at the pump lags downward, will American’s forget the hard lessons of the summer’s high fuel prices and lapse back into the sleepy denial of the true nature of our current energy crisis?
Judging from recently released data from US DoT, the ”mileage bubble” has yet to burst.
The U.S. Department of Transportation said Friday that Americans drove 5.6 percent less, or 15 billion fewer miles, in August compared with same month a year ago—the biggest single monthly decline since the data was first collected regularly in 1942.
But it’s not uncommon for market factors like these to lag behind one another. As fuel prices start to look “cheap” again to your average American driver, will they start forgetting the pain of $4+ gasoline?
Many experts I spoke with at the Energy Freedom Summit in Chicago believe that these lowered prices are very temporary, and that our energy strategy is so inherently weak that almost any “glitch”, storm, or supply chain attack will send prices soaring, probably beyond the record highs of this summer.
Robert McFarlane, former National Security Advisor for Ronald Reagan, went as far as to predict a massive attack on oil infrastructure in the next six months that would cause crude oil costs to soar over $200 per barrel, and cement the looming world recession, noting that a 5% cut in current production would mean oil would cost about $200/bbl.
While not everyone agrees with the certainty of the event, most did agree that should such an event occur, the damage to world population would be devastating - especially to the parts of the world where higher oil costs mean starvation and death, in addition to here in the West where it will mean job-loss and economic hardship or ruin for many.
It’s my hope that the oil market have overplayed it’s hand with the American people, and that the lessons of the summer of ‘08 will not be quickly forgotten.
What do you think? Comments are open…
OPEC Cuts Production, Oil Prices Continue Slide
SINGAPORE (AP) - Oil prices fell to 17-month lows at $63 a barrel Monday in Asia as investors weighed Friday’s OPEC output cut against growing evidence of a severe global economic slowdown that would undermine crude demand. Light, sweet crude for December delivery fell 32 cents to $63.83 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Singapore. Investors brushed off a 1.5 million barrel-a-day cut announced by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries on Friday, focusing instead on falling crude demand as economies across the globe reel from the impact of a credit crisis. On Friday, oil fell $3.69 to settle at $64.15. Prices have plunged 57 percent from a record $147.27 on July 11.
Energy Freedom Summit - First Impressions
Today and tomorrow I’m in Chicago attending the Energy Freedom Summit, organized by the Set America Free Coalition. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this summit, not knowing much about the organization until just two months ago.
My first impression after today’s panels; I’m impressed with the knowledge, experience, focus and pace of this organization - they have a laser-lock on what they intend to do, and are efficient in getting the message out as powerfully as possible.
The panels are impressive leaders in their fields, from geo-political security experts to plug-in hybrid magazine editors. I’m taking many notes.
The attendees are an ambitious and eclectic group of people from a variety of backgrounds who are interested in understanding and solving the current energy crisis. Authors, government officials past and present, entrepreneurs, concerned citizens fill the conference hall - about 150 in all.
I’ve met several authors, a frog farmer, a history professor, a few lawyers, and several “regular joes” who are attending in an effort to ”do something” about this problem.
I’m not yet sure where I fit in here, but I keep talking to people, and am learning quite a lot.
(Update 10/27/08 - I’m home from Chicago, with enough new information to fill this blog for weeks. I’m currently writing a few entries, and will begin posting them as they are completed.)
Comment ·
Supply and Demand: Oil Prices Dropping
You’ve probably noticed oil and gas prices are the lowest they’ve been all year. Demand has slipped not just here at home, but around the world. Even China’s demand is showing signs of cooling.
Source: IHT.com
At the beginning of the year, OPEC producers felt confident that strong economic growth and tight supplies would keep oil prices high. When oil crossed the $100-a-barrel threshold in February, the cartel’s president blamed speculators and said there was not much OPEC could do.
But now, panic is gripping producers as prices drop. Oil is down by half since July, and the speed of the decline has stunned oil-rich governments that have become dependent on high prices.
OPEC is worried that prices are going to slip too far. This, of course is great news for consumers, who have been suffering for months paying balooning prices at the pump. It’s also a confirmation that basic rules of supply and demand still work to determine the cost of commodities like fuel. Of course lower fuel prices would be even more welcome if not for the global economic downturn.
Were fuel prices a contributor to the economic crisis - a perfect storm of the housing credit and oil bubbles? I’m sure that high fuel prices helped push consumer confidence down. How can you be optimistic about weathering your other economic problems when every day the price of fuel rises, and never seems to fall. High fuel costs may have pushed us over the economic edge we have be teetering at for the last few years.
Early in the year there were numerous reports from government transportation agencies and commercial groups like AAA that Americans were curtailing driving, driving less that they had the year before, indicating the first decrease in driving in decades. In any case, the oil market is finally reacting to months of run-ups, where we found ourselves paying over $140 for a barrel of oil just a few short months ago. We stopped buying as much, and the price slips.
Now OPEC, the largest oil cartel, may attempt to flex its muscle to prop up falling oil prices and protect their profits, by purposely reducing oil supply.
Is it possible to demonstrate more clearly the need to find alternative supplies for energy than this? Is it possible to demonstrate more clearly the effect of energy conservation than this? We all participated in the grandest supply and demand experiment of modern history.
Conservation works - and works quickly, without any new technology required. Finding alternative sources of energy, or just stating the intention of finding alternative sources of oil, also works to reduce prices. It doesn’t take years, as predicted by politicians from each side. Speculators and cartels are discouraged when they hear the largest customer has decided to shop around a little. Sellers tend to sweeten the deal in order to keep the customer. It’s less about actual drops of oil, and more about managing human greed. Let’s not be lulled back into old habits by lower prices.
Let’s also remember that relatively small changes in demand led to fairly substantial changes in price. It’s true that Americans are driving less than last year - but it’s only by a small percentage. Look around, there are cars everywhere - moving around all hours of the day. American’s haven’t abandoned their cars, they are just using them a little less, or using them a little more efficiently. I’d like to think we contributed, however slightly.
Comment ·
MJK Racing Qualifies and Races in National Championship
While I was away, Mike Kern of Mike Kern Racing (a SCCA GT-1 racing team that we sponsor), qualified for the SCCA National Championships in Topeka Kansas.
He raced as a rookie nationals driver, starting 17th and moving up to 15th by the end of the race.
Mike said in a recent email: “Well the race was a real adventure. We started 17Th out of an 18 car field and finished 15Th., so at least we went the right direction. What a tough race week, if something can go wrong it will, but I glad we went and it created memories for a lifetime.”
I wish my wife and I could have been there in person for the race, but we had a wedding to attend (ours!).
We congratulate Mike and his crew for his success in overcoming all obstacles getting to and qualifying for the championship, and look forward to next year’s racing season!
Personal Note…
I’ve been away for two weeks, getting married and honeymooning. The wedding was beautiful, the reception was the best party of my life, and the honeymoon was relaxing and romantic.
The site has been working very well in my total absense, and I’m encouraged by the steady growth and interest. More to follow…
Comment ·
