Put air in your tires, stop your whining

[norriscooper]

Problem solved!

Obama said "We could save all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling, if everybody was just inflating their tires and -- and -- and getting regular tune-ups, you can actually save just as much."

That must be the reason the oil market has been going down.

[Wolfgang]

Problem solved!

Obama said "We could save all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling, if everybody was just inflating their tires and -- and -- and getting regular tune-ups, you can actually save just as much."

That must be the reason the oil market has been going down.

What tune up? He must be driving a ghetto special if it needs a tune up.
No such thing any longer.

[andy]

What tune up? He must be driving a ghetto special if it needs a tune up.
No such thing any longer.

Are you seriously approaching ANY politician with logic? SERIOUSLY, no *REALLY*?

[Briantime]

He's in quite a pickle....prevented from common sense solutions because the left wing enviro-crowd owns him.

[grifscoots]

prevented from common sense solutions because the left wing enviro-crowd owns him.Is that what that is?

[hoog62]

Problem solved!

Obama said "We could save all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling, if everybody was just inflating their tires and -- and -- and getting regular tune-ups, you can actually save just as much."

That must be the reason the oil market has been going down.

The news last night had some "experts" run the numbers...

Drilling in the Gulf..... +1.2 million barrels
Inflating your tires.... saves 800,000 barrels (and does it now)

Sounds like they should push both to me.

[eljeffe]

The news last night had some "experts" run the numbers...

Drilling in the Gulf..... +1.2 million barrels
Inflating your tires.... saves 800,000 barrels (and does it now)

Sounds like they should push both to me.

How about a time line for each stat???

1.2 million barrels a day?
800k barrels per 100 years?

There is no way inflating tires can save 800k barrels in a day, week, or friggin year (well, unless they were running flat on the rims in the first place)

[KMC1]

:rolleyes: Well, the way I see it... If inflating tires is "the answer" to our energy dependence, then I'm just as qualified to be President as B.H.O. since I've known about that little gem for years - literally. I guess the only thing left for me to do is to grandstand in front of the world in Germany using all sorts of "wall" metaphors in support of my bid to be the President of the wor.. I mean United States... /sarc.

[ldbikin]

Its hard to believe anyone can blame anyone but ourselves for the petrol prices.

Looking back, I was astounded by the huge platforms coming out of the car companies after just coming out of a gas crisis, like the ford expedition, etc.

And now we expect the next president to pick up the pieces. Hell, I don't know what the right answer is either but keepin' your tires inflated and a machine in good running condition (tune up also equals air filters, etc) surely won't hurt.

I could repave the planet with the road gator's I see along the desert highways every year, run 'em low and they will blow gradually (they do make great pylons for practice!).

Considering the small american oil companies when compared to the rest of the world, I often wonder if it isn't a "get even" type of thing. Case in point, gas prices went down recently, soon as they found out the supply bin wasn't as full as they thought, up the prices went.

all in all, maybe 4 bucks/gal is a fair price for fuel these days. We in the USA just never planned for it properly.

[hoog62]

How about a time line for each stat???

1.2 million barrels a day?
800k barrels per 100 years?

There is no way inflating tires can save 800k barrels in a day, week, or friggin year (well, unless they were running flat on the rims in the first place)

Per day


According to the U.S. Department of Energy (http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/maintain.shtml), "every pound per square inch of tire underinflation wastes 4 million gallons of gas daily in the U.S." Survey information from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (http://www.dot.gov/affairs/nhtsa4601.htm) shows that 27% of the cars on the road have a significantly under-inflated tire.

Obviously, Obama wasn't arguing that inflating tires would reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil -- but he was saying such a move would save as much energy as drilling for oil in the continental shelf would provide.

Is that true?

If it does save gas, and it is a common problem, well, then what would the total savings be if we all were a bit more diligent about checking the pressure very morning?

Frank Verrastro, Director and Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), says that it's complicated, of course.

"The 'x' factors here are the fact that Sen. Obama used both tire inflation and tune ups in his remarks, and no one knows what volume you could/would get from additional drilling in the outer continental shelf," Verrastro says.

As of now, all we have for the OCS are resource estimates, but no production.

Using the website FuelEconomy.gov (http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/07/www.fueleconomy.gov), Verrastro writes, we can estimate that "the maximum (estimated) fuel economy (i.e., mileage) savings drivers could expect as a result of keeping their engines properly tuned (4%), replacing air filters (up to 10%), properly inflating tires (up to 3%) and using the correct motor oil (1-2%) is 18-19%. Since American drivers use roughly 380 million gallons of gasoline (not including diesel) per day, an 18% improvement translates into a savings of 68 million gallons, or 1.62 million barrels of oil per day."

Current crude oil and condensate production in the OCS is about 1.25 million barrels per day.

So... What does that mean?

It means that if every American was running around with significantly underinflated tires and improperly tuned cars, then, yes, Sen. Obama is right, the savings from inflating the tires and tuning the cars could arguably match or exceed current output from the OCS.

However, since estimates of significant tire underinflation affect only about a quarter of the cars on road -- as we noted above with the NHTSA statistics -- and it’s highly unlikely that 100% of the cars are in need of tune- ups at any given time, the maximum savings amount is probably closer to 10%, Verrastro says.

"So the production offset is more likely to approach 800 thousand barrels per day – a tidy sum and a worthwhile target for savings, but not equal to OCS output," he rules. "Finally, without knowing what production volumes could be expected from lifting the ban on OCS drilling moratoria, it’s impossible to assert that taking these fuel savings actions would exceed future offshore oil volumes, and in fact, one might argue that the combination of achieving these savings AND developing new supply would doubly enhance US energy security."

- Jake Tapper and Natalie Gewargis

link (http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/07/from-the-fact-1.html)

[zippy_gg]

Just by replacing the plugs and beat-up air filter on my A6 2.7t I immediately got an additional 40 miles per tankful.:thumb: I guess the PO neglected the car maintenance. But that is small in comparison to the gasoline I save by riding on a daily basis instead of driving.:yeah:

Perhaps a presidential candidate will endorse riding as a way to diminish our dependence on foreign oil... even if our bikes are foreign!:rolleyes:

[norriscooper]

Just by replacing the plugs and beat-up air filter on my A6 2.7t I immediately got an additional 40 miles per tankful.:thumb: I guess the PO neglected the car maintenance. But that is small in comparison to the gasoline I save by riding on a daily basis instead of driving.:yeah:

Perhaps a presidential candidate will endorse riding as a way to diminish our dependence on foreign oil... even if our bikes are foreign!:rolleyes:

I check my tires weekly and have been since Obama's Mama was wiping his ass. I just had the 36,000 mile service done on my 06 GT. Plugs, airfilter, oil, check valves, etc. No change in fuel economy!!!
I save gas by riding but I don't save money.