@ Harvey D.
I have met some german people who drive 4-cylinder diesel cars/station wagons, although they can afford
8-cylinder vehicles. With the money saved, they can take better vacations, etc...
I wish there were many people like them in México because we are running out of easy oil !!

Cal will improve soon we just need to wait for the big quake to remodel san fran san diago and la so we can build better more planned cities where they stood. Sgould be rather soon now.

Sorry to jump in so late. For the comments by Patrick and SJC (and others), I have published about two dozen paperson Energy Policy and other journals about Japan, the US, and EUropean fuel use for transport.
I won't go through all the numbers here, but my latest work (on http://embarq.wri.org/en/Article.101.aspx) finds these differences
US 21 MPG on road
Japan 23 MPG on road
EUrope 29 MPG on road (counting diesel at its ENERGY equivalent of gasoline)

Europeans have 75% as many cars as americans, per capita
Japanese have 66% as many cars as americans

Europeans drive their cars about 2/3 as many km/car/year as americans, Japanese less than 1/2

So most of the US Japan difference is km/capita...
and the US/Europe difference is about half km/capita and half energy/km

The present price in California, about $4/gn compares with about $7 in Japan (at exchange rates), $8-9 in the middle of europe and $9-10 in Sweden and $11/gallon in Turkey.

AS for how much prices impact consumption, since 2002 US GDP has grown about 4x faster than road fuel consumption, rather than about 1.2x faster as in normal times. That implies that in 2007 fuel use is about 15%-20 lower than expected for a doubling of the real price since 2002. That in turn implies a fuel price elasticity of about -0.1 i the short term. Other work I have published (Johansson and Schipper, JTEP, Sept 1997) says that in the longer term (i.e., if the same price increases hold over 15 years, the time it takes to junk every car on the road) demand might be as much as 70% as we would have expected with no price change.

So,m $4/gallon in real terms held constant for the next 15 years (i.e., assuming McHillary does'nt lower the gasoline tax) while GNP grows about 75% says fuel demand in 2023 will be about what is is today, rather than 60% higher. The new fuel economy standards don't kick in in ful until 2020 (unless California has its way), so they might act to keep demand flat through 2035, by which time the entire US fleet of cars and light trucks will have attained 28MPG on the road (35 MPG cafe average)

I can't wait

Lee Schipper
Berkeley CA

C Dell above rues the SUVs on the crowded roads in the UK. Well, in my article I posted in the EMBARQ web site, i found that in the UK fuel use/capita is only a 1/3 of what it is in the US, the on road fuel economy is close to the EU Average of 29 MPG.
The roads are crowded because the UK is crowded. And because it is crowded, as the UK National Travel Surveys Show, about 1/4 of British don't use cars to get to work, vs about 9% of Americans.
Imagine if 1/4 of Americans didn't use cars to get to work. Trips to work account for 25% of all miles -- remove 16% of those (to get to the British share), and wow 0.16 x 0.25 x 7 million barrels/day or 280 000 bpd saved...not bad.

And to respond to Dave above on May 1, the two most recent papers on the "regulate fuel/mile and drive more miles", or rebound effect (see Small and Vandender 2007 or Sperling et al) find that this rebound, the "drive more miles" is a 5-10% effect; in other words, for every 10% fuel savings imposed by standards, 1/2 to 1 percent comes back as miles driven.
Doesn't seem like such a bad deal, does it?

Besides what lee schipper cites from the paper he mentioned there would have to be a point at which drivers would no longer wish to extend their commute (time spent on the road) regardless of increases in fuel economy.

Now, in 10 years when new vehicles feature more autonomity; I wonder if drivers will feel less worry about time spent on the road?

I've been trying to test drive a Honda Fit for the last couple weeks but they are always sold out at the local dealership. This last month it seems like I am seeing at least one SMART car on the road every single day and less SUVs. My place of employment has finally decided to let us schedule one day a week we can work from home and I have a feeling thats going to happen at other companies whenever possible. Yes, I live in San Diego also, and see more and more Priuses on the road all the time.

Dear Sir
we are mining company here in GHANA,
will deal in GOLD DUST AND BAR,
we can work with you in CIF with good condition ,
any interested buyer can contact me. jamesnaa72@gmail.com
James

I'M GLAD TO SEE THAT SUPPLY AND DEMAND IS WORKING, SINCE DEMAND IS DOWN 5% THAT MEANS THE PRICE PER GALLON IS ALSO DOWN BY 5%, SO WE'RE ONLY PAYING ABOUT $2.50 A GALLON FOR GAS, RIGHT? OR MAYBE WE SHOULD PAY $10.00 A GALLON FOR GAS LIKE THEY DO IN THE UK, THEN THE OIL COMPANIES COULD AFFORD TO PAY FOR OUR UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE, LIKE THE GOVERNMENT DOES IN THE UK,
LARRY

“Posted by: chillegibbo | Apr 30, 2008 12:54:25 PM - Interesting gasoline use comparison:
California, 156,000 sq mi, 37 million people, (2006) GDP: $1.7 Trillion - 1.23 billion gallons of gasoline used in January.
Japan, 150,000 sq mi, 128 million people, (2006) GDP: $4.2 Trillion - 1.16 billion gallons of gasoline used in March”

– 'Course you forgot that Japan’s 3.5x higher density AND artificially high/taxed car/fuel prices causes/allows them to have more public transportation (NOT figured in your Gasoline use!) vs. single occupancy Freeway networks. Not to mention smaller more efficient cars due to space/parking constraints.
You want to enjoy/suffer the JapRat lifestyle – go ahead and move there!

For Dr. Schipper - just a quick question. In http://embarq.wri.org/automobile_fuel.pdf
"Energy use and travel for personal transport in wealthy countries is dominated by automobiles. ...these vehicles still account for roughly 9% of total energy use (and 20% of oil use) in OECD countries, with higher shares in the United States (1.)"

How does a usage of 9-20% "DOMINATE" the other 92-80% of energy/oil uses? Isn’t electricity generation actually the largest?

I'm SO tired of Pathos like "dominate" being used with no perspective given. At least show what the send/third biggest energy/oil users are?

At the end of the day you either believe in the free markets or you don’t. Believing in a managed economy is a bit like cheating in school and feeling good about it as long as you don’t get caught. It appears to be a good idea especially if you can convince yourself that everyone else is doing it. Two things happen in the end, you get caught but more importantly you don’t learn and will pay the many prices of ignorance, laziness and deceit. People are not perfect, capitalism will never be, but it is the only true system for a country that wants to survive.

natural gas. where is the natural gas disscussion ? it's cheaper. it's cleaner. it's everywhere that americans drive. it can be dispensed at home, no fuel/gas stations needed.
talk about a "missed the boat".

Seems it would be relevant to point out that CA's population is declining. Go look at the stats. What matters is fuel per person, not total consumption. So they should adjust their analysis to take this into account. So don't get too excited yet CA people.

PLEASE DO YOURSELF A FAVOR....READ THIS!

The Plan!
?

Robin Williams, wearing a shirt that says 'I love New York ' in Arabic.
You gotta love Robin Williams......
Even if he's nuts! Leave it to Robin Williams to come up with the perfect plan. What we need now is for our UN Ambassador to stand up and repeat this message.

Robin Williams' Plan...(Hard to argue with this logic!)

'I see a lot of people yelling for peace, but I have not heard of a plan for peace. So, here's one plan.'

1) 'The US will apologize to the world for our 'interference' in their affairs, past and present. You know, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Tojo, Noriega, Milosevic, Hussei n, and the rest of those 'good ' ole' boys;' we will never 'interfere' again.

2) We will withdraw our troops from all over the world, starting with Germany, South Korea, the Middle East, and the Philippines. They don't want us there. We would station troops at our borders. No one allowed sneaking through holes in the fence..

3) All illegal aliens have 90 days to get their affai rs together and leave. We'll give them a free trip home. After 90 days, the remainder will be gathered up and deported immediately, regardless of whom or where they are. They're illegal!!! France will welcome them.

4) All future visitors will be thoroughly checked and limited to 90 days unless given a special permit!!!! No one from a terrorist nation will be allowed in. If you don't like it there, change it yourself and don't hide here. Asylum would never be available to anyone. We don't need any more cab drivers or 7-11 cashiers.

5) No foreign 'students' over age 21. The older ones are the bombers. If they don't attend classes, they get a 'D' and then it's back home, baby!

6) The US will make a strong effort to become self-sufficient energy wise. This will include developing nonpolluting sources of energy but will require a temporary drilling of oil in the Alaskan wilderness. The caribou will have to cope for awhile< /FONT> .

7) Offer Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries $10 a barrel for their oil. If they don't like it, we go someplace else. They can go somewh ere else to sell their production. (About a week of the wells filling up the storage sites would be enough.)

8) If there is a famine or other natural catastrophe in the world, we will not 'interfere.' They can pray to Allah or whomever, for seeds, rain, cement or whatever they need. Besides, most of what we give them is stolen or given to the army. The people who need it most get very little, if anything.

9) Ship the UN Headquarters to an isolated island someplace. We don't need the spies and fair weather friends here. Besides, the building would make a good homeless shelter or lockup for illegal aliens.

10) All Americans must go to charm and beauty school. That way, no one can call us 'Ugly Americans' any longer. The Language we speak is ENGLISH..learn it...or LEAVE!
Now, isn't that a winner of a plan????

'The Statue of Liberty is no longer saying 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses.' She's got a baseball bat and she's yelling, 'you want a piece of me?' '

If you agree with the above forward it to friends...If not, and I would be amazed, DELETE IT!

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Why did consumption go up so much from 2001 to 2004?

The comparison of GDP between California and Japan is like comparing apples to bowling balls. For example, the population and manufacturing density in Japan is far greater than in California. The delivery of bumpers for JIT (just in time) manufacturing to the Toyota plant is much closer than a farmer in the San Joaquin Valley delivering fruit to Los Angeles. This is just one example but the entire data set/comparison from the way it has been explained above is next to meaningless.

"Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics"

Benjamin Disraeli

CHEVY VOLT EXTEND RANGE 1000+MILES DELETE IC MOTOR WHICH ONLY DRIVES BATTERY CHARGING GENERATOR ATTACH A 12 IN DIAMETER RING GEAR TO A WHEEL RIM TO DRIVE GEAR ON GENERATOR SHAFT N_O GAS REQUIR????

That will obviously work BILL HUSAR.
But CHEVY VOLT EXTEND RANGE 1000+MILES AND Sell Electricity back to the grid every 40 miles. DELETE IC MOTOR WHICH ONLY DRIVES BATTERY CHARGING GENERATOR ATTACH A 12 IN DIAMETER RING GEAR TO each wheel WHEEL RIM TO DRIVE GEAR ON 4 GENERATOR SHAFTs.
N_O GAS REQUIR???
And
Sell power to the grid.