Posted on 05/01/2005 6:19:00 AM PDT by MississippiMasterpiece
President Bush made it clear last week that he sees no quick fixes to the nation's energy woes. The problem has been long in coming, the argument goes, and so will the solutions. But if history is any guide, there is one thing he could do immediately: bring back the 55 miles-per-hour speed limit.
It has been done before. Along with record oil and gasoline prices, improvements in fuel efficiency and a lasting economic recession, speed limits helped curb fuel consumption for the first time in American postwar history between 1974 and 1984.
Of course, energy eventually became cheap again, the economy expanded and Americans became complacent and unwilling to make more sacrifices.
Instead of opting for small fuel-efficient cars, people switched to large sport utility vehicles and larger pickups. As drivers groaned and states fought for their right to speed, the limit was raised.
While oil consumption in most industrialized nations has either leveled off or declined, in the United States, oil demand has soared 38 percent since the first oil shock of 1973.
The Bush administration's focus over the last four years has been to increase the supply of oil and natural gas, which are also priorities for the energy industry, instead of finding ways to cut back on energy demand, which until very recently has been left out of the picture.
"We are in a boxing match, and the president keeps one hand tied to his back," said Steven Nadel, the executive director for the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, a nonprofit research group in Washington. "We're punching with supplies and not using demand. We're at a disadvantage."
Other industrialized countries, especially in Europe, have been much more successful than the United States and have managed to actually lower oil demand, or at least keep it in check. That comes from higher diesel use and higher taxes. In France and Germany, a gallon of gasoline sells for as much as $6, with taxes accounting for about 80 percent of that.
Few politicians in America might risk ridicule or rejection by explicitly supporting higher taxes on gasoline, one of the surest ways to limit the nation's dependence on oil.
"Even the least outrageous gasoline tax would have choked off some demand, and the money would have gone to our own government instead of being transferred overseas," said Robert K. Kaufmann, a professor of geography at the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies at Boston University. "Of course, that would have to involve personal sacrifice, which is off the table politically."
There are other ways to curb consumption that may be only slightly less challenging, analysts say. One would be to increase the average mileage per gallon requirement. After Congress passed legislation forcing automakers to act in 1975, average mileage almost doubled to 27.5 miles a gallon in 1987 from 14 in 1972. But it has since slipped back to 24 because of S.U.V.'s, and Congress shows no inclination to toughen the standards.
Another way to sharply reduce demand - and improve mileage - would be to encourage drivers to buy diesel cars, which offer as much as 60 percent more fuel efficiency, said Theodore R. Eck, an energy consultant and former chief economist at the Amoco oil company.
"The neat thing here is that this is off-the-shelf technology," he said. But the trade-off to diesel fuels also includes higher emissions of nitrate oxide, a pollutant that is responsible for smog.
In a recent speech, President Bush suggested that diesel cars might be made eligible for similar income tax credits as hybrid cars, which are quickly turning into best sellers with long waiting lists.
The present predicament behind high oil prices is quite different than the oil shocks of the 1970's and 1980's, which were a result of producers in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries cutting oil supplies. Today, the price shock comes from rapidly increasing demand, driven largely by China, but also by the United States and its strong car culture.
After rising 33 percent in the last year, crude oil prices in New York slipped below $50 a barrel on Friday for the first time in 10 weeks. They closed down nearly 4 percent at $49.72 a barrel.
Still, Americans can expect to pay record prices for gasoline this summer. According to the latest national average compiled by the Energy Department, gasoline prices at the pump averaged $2.24 a gallon, up 42 cents from last year; they are expected to touch a record $2.35 a gallon this summer.
Polls show that higher gasoline prices are increasingly hurting Americans, and the president is pressing Congress to revive an energy bill that has been stalled for four years.
Since the last energy shock of the 1980's, the economy as a whole has shifted toward services and away from heavy industry and is now less dependent on oil than it once was. But that has been more than offset by the rise of oil demand for the transportation sector, which accounts for two of every three barrels of crude oil consumed here; gasoline alone amounts to half the nation's oil consumption.
"We've had this situation building up for years, and yet the focus continues to be on the very long term," said Shirley Neff, an adjunct professor at Columbia University and a former economist on the Senate Energy Committee. "We have to focus on demand and be more efficient in our energy use. We need something like an Apollo program for the transportation sector."
But restricting demand might also weaken economic growth, an unpalatable prospect for any government, especially at a time when some are already blaming energy costs for a slowdown in growth.
"It's true that there is a limit to what you could achieve through a traditional energy policy in one or two years," said Fridtjof Unander, an analyst with the International Energy Agency, which advises industrialized nations on ways to reduce their consumption.
The 55 miles-per-hour speed limit came as a result of the 1973 Arab oil embargo. The Nixon administration ordered states to lower their maximum limit to save fuel at a time when the first oil shock threatened to bring the economy to a standstill.
After steadily rising each year, gasoline demand suddenly stopped growing in 1974 and remained nearly flat for the next decade, keeping oil consumption in check.
Roland Hwang, the vehicles policy director at the Natural Resources Defense Council in San Francisco, estimated the savings of the speed limit in 1983 at 2.5 billion gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel, or 2.2 percent of the total use for these types of fuels.
But as gas lines faded from people's memories and energy prices went down, the federal speed limit was relaxed in 1987, allowing states to set higher caps of 65 miles an hour. Once more, gasoline consumption surged.
Smaller efforts today could make a difference. For example, driving at 10 miles an hour above the 65 miles-per-hour limit increases fuel consumption by 15 percent; inflating tires properly cuts gasoline use by 2 percent; keeping engines idle while in line wastes millions of gallons.
The trouble is that few drivers bother with these suggestions, Mr. Hwang said. "People are basically too lazy to pump their tires up."
Nowadays, many cars get their higher fuel efficency at higher speeds. For comparison, my od equipped 83 Cutlass Supreme gets 22 mpg on the highway from 68 mph up to about 85 mph, above that it drops to 18-20 mpg. My 96 Ciera SL gets 26 mpg on the highway, and does its best mileage between 75 and 90 mph, below 75 it stays around 23 mpg on the highway.
I guarantee that your truck would have a lot lower mileage wtihout that overdrive gear--probably gets 16-18 mpg now, would get 12-14 mpg otherwise.
The biggest increase in the cost of fuel for filling up a truck or SUV, is not as much an actual increase as percieved. In the 70s and 80s, trucks had 14-16 gallon tanks. Now trucks and SUVs usually have 30-40 gallon tanks (and their mileage has indeed improved some because I know older trucks usually got 10-12 mpg at best). They have much longer cruising range, but they cost more to fuel up (regardless of the fuel price) because of holding more fuel.
I was just thinking about this...
I may try an experiment the next time I drive from KC to OKC. I think that I'll try going 70MPH one way, and 55MPH the other way.
At about 70MPH, it takes me right about 5.5 hrs to make the drive. At 55, I estimate that it will take a bit more than 7 hours to make the same trip.
What I've been wondering about is exactly how they've calculated the difference in milage. I know that as speed increases, the power required goes up exponentially. But given the efficiency of todays engines, I wonder if that really matters as much...
Again, what I've wondered is how they come up with the "savings." Do they actually drive a fixed distance, and then note the amount of gasoline required at each speed, or do they drive for a fixed amount of time, and then compute the amount of fuel used...
I'll have to give it a try. I'm just wondering if the extra hour and a half the drive will take me will really save me any gasoline (I get roughly 34 - 37 mpg normally in my 2000 Toyota Corolla).
Mark
Re your #186:
I run an old '91 Plymouth Voyager with 137K on the clock, and it still runs like a top.
And I typically run about 45 PSI in the front tires, since most of the weight of the vehicle is on them.
It seems to handle better, and the tread does not wear out on the outside as much as it will when I run the reccomended 35 PSI - which I do in the rears.
Now all of these theories are very interesting, and I don't claim to know that much about it; all I do know is that "Old Red" gets significantly better milage at around 60 MPH than it will at 70 - 75 which one pretty much has to maintain in order to keep up with traffic on the highways here in Maine. Old Red is perfectly capable of cruising at 80+, but it will cost me at the pumps if we do.
So lately, if I'm not in a particular hurry, I'll cruise around 65 - which is the posted speed limit.
Of course, everybody passes us as if we were parked, riding at anchor, or hitched to a tree.
And they seem none too pleased about old red and I getting in their way.
I'm considering making up a bumper sticker (duct tape and magic marker) to stick on the tailgate;
"Sorry if I'm in your way; When Gas is back < $2 a gallon, I'll speed back up".
As for Diesel; I love it. Our 27' Class C Motor home has a big 450 CI V-8 Deisel with automatic electric overdrive, and it's great. But Deisel is running around $2.50 a gallon up this way (gas is down to $2.19), which hardly makes it an economical alternative!
I'm hoping that this "Biodeisel" made out of cooking fat and vegetable oil will become economically competitive, so we'll at least have something to run on! Apparently it creates much less air pollution and smells a lot better than your regular bus - breath.
What is the difference between doing 85 mph in a 70 mph zone and doing 85 in a 55 mph zone on I10 between Houston and San Antonio? The size of the ticket.
No, it started back in the Nixon administration back in the spring of 1974. It wasn't till the summer of 1986 that a partial repeal was approved by Congress. I still can't figure out why it wasn't repealed in 1981. The total repeal occurred in 1995 after Republicans swept congressional elections in 1994.
It's been tried and collectively laughed at by American motorists.
More importantly, what they don't seem to understand is that when the cost of fuel goes up, so does the cost of everything else. And aren't these usually the same people who cry about needing to increase the minimum wage? If these people were in charge, gasoline would be $10 a gallon, and the minimum wage would be $20 an hour, just to keep up with the increased food (and everything else) prices!
Mark
You have to be going 88mph to activate the flux capacitor.
Oh I can....
Dole Undermines Reagan by Supporting the 55-Mile Per Hour Speed Limit
When candidate Reagan campaigned in favor of abolishing the 55-mile per hour speed limit, it was Dole who fought to maintain it. As James Bovard writes:
"As Transportation Secretary, Dole consistently sought to maximize federal power both over citizens and state governments…as Transportation Secretary Dole fought all attempts to allow states to raise speed limits. Dole was the first Secretary of Transportation to penalize state governments for failure to ticket enough speeding drivers….After Dole cut highway funding to several states, Congress moved to end the 55 mph speed limit." (3)
Dole billed herself as the "Secretary of Safety" and sided with Ralph Nader and other liberals in maintaining that lifting the 55 miles-per-hour rule would be disastrous. Dole even had DOT letterhead printed up with the "55 Speed Limit" logo on the bottom, (4) Ironically, the reality was that after Congress authorized states to raise the 55-mile-per-hour limit to 65, our highways became safer. Economists Charles Lave and Patrick Elias examined the statistics before and after the 55-mile-per-hour law and concluded:
"The fatality rate dropped by 3.4% -5.1% following the speed limit increase in states with higher speed limits." (5)
Furthermore, numerous other studies by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, the California Department of Transportation and even data from Dole’s own Department of Transportation have confirmed the folly of Dole’s position on this issue. (6) Only when it became obvious that the 55 mph limits would be lifted did Dole climb on board, and even then in a limited fashion. (7) Ironically, Dole’s efforts to save us from ourselves by fighting to delay raising the speed limit likely led to hundreds of additional auto accident fatalities.
And this woman is my current 'conservative' representation in Congress. And I can't tell you how thankful I am for that every day...
55 mph on the interstate? Like hell.
Post #249 is in response to your question for why it was not repealed in '81
read this
Interesting picture but I believe it was taken during the 1973 Energy crisis.
The real world is what really matters for a given driver/vehicle, so you're on your own to figure exactly what to compare. For new vehicles, fuel costs are a relatively small fraction of total operating costs so it's more of a philosophical/emotional issue as long as fuel is available.
Elizabeth Dole wasn't Secretary of Transportation till 1989 under the George H W Bush administration. This would explain why she opposed total elimination of the restrictions that still existed after 1986, but not why Congress didn't repeal them entirely back in 1981 when the Reagan adminstration came to office with a senate majority and good strength in the house. It may have been that with oil prices high and shortages of oil, it was not an opportune time to repeal speed limits. By 1986, oil had gone down to under $10 per barrel and there was a huge amount of oil available around the world.
Not totally correct. First generation 350 ci diesel Olds V8 (all the first diesels for cars and light trucks were built for GM by Oldsmobile) with the D casting were junk from the factory, mostly due to crankshaft clearance issues and woefully inadequate head gaskets (aftermarket bearing kits and aftermarket headgaskets solved these two problems, with these motors logging 300-400+ k and getting 28-30 mpg w/o o/d. By 1981, the DX casting motors came out, with greatly improved cooling and durability. The D block was a retrofit on an existing gas casting, and had the problems of the windowed main block, but the DX block was solid mains which raised the weight by about 50 lbs, but raised durability through the roof.
And Texas is proposing 85 mph on the Trans-Texas Corridor.
Elizabeth Dole’s resume includes six years (1973-1979) as a member of the Federal Trade Commission and two years (1981-1983) as Assistant to President Reagan for Public Liaison.
In February 1983, Elizabeth Dole joined President Reagan’s Cabinet as Secretary of Transportation – the first woman to hold that position. During her four-and-a-half years at Transportation, the United States enjoyed the safest period then to date in all three major transportation areas – rail, air, and highway.
She was Secretary of Labor under Bush I. Remember those OSHA regulations everyone raised a ruckus about right before Clinton pushed through as a last gasp? I'll give you one guess who started that mess.
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