How America Is Kicking Its Oil Habit

More efficient vehicles doesn't necessarily mean hybrids. I rented a Nissan Sentra and drove it fairly hard (max sustain speeds: 80mph) and still got 36.5 mpg (per dash readout) at the end of a very long day. If I could have kept it at 65-68mph, 40mpg would have easily been in reach.

 

greater use of natural gas and renewables? anyways, i disagree with the paradox theory. i'd be more interested in our total energy use, than oil alone, if were trying to understand efficiencies.

 

Sure and how come Cadillac Escalade sales are up 36% and Pickup Trucks are up 11%. Reminds me of a passage from a 1962 song by Pete Seger, Where Have All The Flowers Gone.

 

Can't speak on the Escalade, but pick up truck fuel economy has been improving. The new F150 won't just make heavy use of aluminum, but also offer a 2.7L Ecoboost with stop/start. The 3L diesel in the Ram 1500 performs even better than that, and the 8 speed transmission returned good numbers with the V6.

And people are choosing them. When the 3.5L Ecoboost came out for the F150, it and the base V6 accounted for over half (55% I think) of all F150 sales.

It would be better if less people that didn't need a truck didn't buy one, but at least they, and those that need one, will burn less fuel.

 

Escalade's group the large SUV is having a dead cat bounce or a regression to the mean. The segment is way down since it peaked in 2004.and escalade has done better than most. Escalade peaked in 2006 at much higher than this years sales.

Cadillac Escalade Sales Figures - GOOD CAR BAD CAR

Pick up trucks though are on an uptick, and I expect that to continue. It should be kept in perspective. Many of the new trucks are replacing older less efficient trucks, but it would be better for fuel economy if people were moving from trucks to cars as they seem to be doing from SUVs (at least if you look long term, with some small reversals some years).

 

Worded like it's breaking a bad habit.. like smoking.. I guess in way it is with prius, less or no idle time.. now if we can all bike.. woh..

 

Gas can get cheap all it wants, I'm still going to avoid using it as much as I can.

 

I hope that you aren't suggesting that we (gulp) consider conserving our resources . . . .
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I'd much rather use California sun or Texas wind than OPEC oil. All energy is not created equal and energy does some wonderful things for us.
fracked natural gas is probably much better to heat a home than cutting down old growth forests and burning the wood. Neither is a great choice, but if you are going to freeze or burn something, I know which I choose. Building a home with efficient geo thermal heat, powered by solar on the roof is much better, but not much of the planet has money for that.

 

there is so much controversy over fracking, and well water. agree on opec oil. it would be wonderful to limit our energy use to domestic sources. food too. what else?