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Soaring Fuel Prices Got You Down? Something Can Be Done About It

By: GARKO

American drivers are doing something we have not done in the last FIFTY SEVEN years except for seven other times – consume less gasoline.
fuel 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 fuel 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 fuel consumption. And this is something that has happened a total of only SEVEN times since 1951!
The federal government noted that the decline was occurring in part because of a slowing economy. But it also said that higher fuel prices were having an effect on demand.
According to AAA, the national average on Monday for a gallon of fuel was $3.50 a gallon, or 64 cents higher than a year ago. Diesel was $4.20 per gallon, or $1.27 higher than a year ago.
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 fuel stays above $3 for some period of months. But right here in Southern California I am seeing fuel prices above $4 so we may very soon hit that critical mass point.
Verne Covell of Smithville counts himself as one who’s had enough. Now retired, Covell bought a pickup and travel trailer when he retired in 2000. Long trips with his wife to places like Canada were common. This year, however, there will be at most a trip to south Missouri. The trailer may even stay in storage for the entire year because of fuel prices.“We’re getting on and you don’t know how long you have,” he said. “But this year we decided it just got too expensive.”
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.
There is already a shift in demand from fuel guzzline SUVs towards higher MPG vehicles.
The government today plans to release a proposal to raise fuel 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 fuel economy requirements will save motorists $700 to $1,000 a year in fuel 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%.
A decline in fuel demand could help give some relief from high prices. Although prices are surging as the traditional summer driving season approaches, some market followers expect prices to ease back later this summer.
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 fuel costs?
There sure is and it is called Water4Gas

Article Source: http://www.articlekingpro.com

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