Now… if you have been keeping up, we have recently examined Obama’s proposed oil and alternative fuel policies and McCain’s policies, now it’s our turn to offer our opinion - or at least the opinion of me,  Brian Rogers.

While I’m not going to endorse a particular candidate, I will offer an opinion on who I believe is moving in the right direction… Continue Reading »

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Gas prices may have gone down a little bit recently (still over $4 here in LA though!), but did you know that your car might actually be costing you more in gas than you should be spending? Here are some simple things that you should get checked on your car, and fixed, to improve your gas mileage.

1. Inflate your Tires! Most of us don’t bother to get our tires air pressure checked out on our cars. But did you know that running on low air actually decreases gas mileage? Experts have shown that you can gain 3% increase in gas mileage just by inflating your tires to the correct levels. And the best news is, air is free whenever you buy gas at a gas station!
2. Change your oil filter now! If you are like me, you probably don’t get your oil filter changed when supposed to (every 3000 miles or 6 months). You might think that its saving you money, but its not in terms of gas - running low on oil reduces your gas mileage. In particular, make sure to look for the ‘energing conserving’ label on oil, and make sure its the correct type for your car. Putting the wrong one in can reduce your gas mileage by up to 2% percent.
3. Get your engine tuned up, especially every 30,000 miles. Doing this, according to mechanics, can increase your gas mileage by 4%. Plus, it also saves on wear and tear, and expensive break down repairs. And 4% increase in gas mileage a year saves you at least $100 based on $4 a gallon.
4. Rotate and align your tires. This is a fairly standard procedure that many of us don’t do anywhere near enough. Doing both of these to your tires, not only increases the life span of your tires (saving you money), but also increases your gas mileage by 3-4%.
5. Lastly, but providing you the most impact, get your air filter changed. Who ever thinks to get this done? Well, you should, because a good new air filter (like K&N filters) can increase your gas mileage by up to 10%. Thats the equivalent of saving 40 cents a gallon right now! I did this on my car last year, and noticed a big difference, plus you get the get the extra benefit of a few more horsepower. Vroom!

So try doing all these things to your car, and should be pleasantly surprised to see that your gas lasts longer in your car than usual! More tips coming soon!

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After taking a closer look in last weeks post at Barack Obama’s proposed oil and alternative energy policies, we now want to examine John McCain’s proposed initiatives on oil and natural gas, and therefore their impact on gas prices.  So without further adieu…

John McCain- While Barack Obama’s policies focus on decreasing American’s dependency on all oil, it appears that John McCain’s policies focus on reducing dependency on foreign oil.

• McCain wants to drill for oil on the Outer Continental Shelf (the area where the continent meets the deep ocean).  In addition to drilling in the OCS, McCain wants to begin using our own oil reserves.
• McCain also wants to start drilling for natural gas in the Outer Continental Shelf.  Where there is an estimated 419.9 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas.
• McCain supports the use of Flex-Fuel Vehicles. (Flex Fuel vehicles have the capability to use both Ethanol and Gasoline).
• While McCain has a lot of things he agrees or supports, he gives a very limited roadmap as to how he is going to accomplish his objectives and initiatives.

Will this work?  Since the majority of McCain’s policies (oil and natural gas) deal with the drilling in the OCS, that’s where we will spend the majority of our time. The question now becomes how much oil and natural gas are we talking about?  According to the Mineral Management Services (MMS), they estimate the total oil to be around 86 billion barrels and an estimated 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.  That’s a lot of oil, or is it?  Considering the United States consumes an average of 20.7 million barrels of oil a day, that’s enough oil to last about 11 years.

It is important to note that even though 86 billion barrels of oil is a lot only a fraction would actually be claimed.  This is mainly due to lack of oil rigs/ships, time of exploration, and many oil refineries would go online (actively pulling oil from the site).  In addition, McCain has recognized this as a short-term solution, so what happens after that?  Don’t get me wrong, I would love to see gas go back down to a more manageable $2.00 a gallon, but what happens after we exhaust all of our OSC reserves?

What do you think about McCain’s oil and natural gas plan?  Up next we will examine both policies and give you a nice opinion piece… yeah!

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As we explore issues relating to gas and oil prices, on a daily basis, we feel it is necessary to look to America’s future and where the Presidential Candidates stand on these very crucial issues. Let’s take a look at the oil related issues (therefore impacting gas prices), where they clash, and where there is cause for concern.  First up in this post, Obama’s oil and gas proposed policies…

• Obama wants to invest over 150 billion dollars over a 10 year period specifically for “…biofuels and fuel infrastructure, accelerate the commercialization of plug-in hybrids, promote development of commercial-scale renewable energy…”
  
• Obama wants to introduce Cellulosic Ethanol into our fuel consumption plan by 2013. (Cellulosic Ethanol is a biofuel made from grass, wood, and certain parts of plants).
  
• Obama wants to expand locally owned Biofuel refineries.
  
• Obama wants to increase the renewable fuel standard to 36 billion gallons by 2022 . (This simply means that more alternative fuels will be introduced into the fuel supply for consumption)

How will these policies work? While Obama’s plan is very specific, how feasible are these ideas though? Let me shed some light…

• First, with the increase and production of ethanol-based fuels, how much will it really offset our gasoline demand?  America currently uses over 130 billion gallons of gasoline and only produces slightly over 5 billion gallons of ethanol.  Unless we really increase the production of ethanol, we will only offset our gasoline dependency by 5-7%.  It also doesn’t take an economics major to figure out that when there is an increase in demand for corn and ethanol, the price goes up, affecting grocery and restaurant bills.
  
• Second, How much land do we need to set aside to generate this increase in ethanol product and how does the increase of pesticides?  It’s easy to understand that the increase of pesticides will hurt the environment, but where will this land come from?  Most farmable soil is designated to America’s other cash crops like soy, wheat, barley, tobacco, and cotton.  Do we decrease the production of these other crops to increase corn production?

As you can see there is no easy answer to decrease America’s dependency on oil, it will take a huge collective effort by the Congress and President to determine these oil initiatives.  In the next couple of days we will take a look at the oil and natural gas policies of Republican Presidential Candidate, John McCain.  How do you feel about Obama’s policies?

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What with all the constant news and talk of gas prices getting so high (and staying high!), something else pretty common has a little more quietly got very expensive… a gallon of milk! Remember when a gallon of milk used to be $3 bucks fairly recently? Well news has started to show up revealing the new cost of a gallon in some parts of the states - $6! Watch below for the full scoop…

How are we going to afford to dunk our oreos in milk now?  And just whats next to go up in price? Beer? Lets hope not…

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Did you know that over 40% of all the US oil supplies goes through the Strait of Hormuz, which is right next to Iran?  And what would happen if this straight was closed? America’s oil would have to bypass the strait, which will in turn increases prices, and everyone will be paying more for gas to fill up their cars. Unfortunately, there has been some unsettling news down there lately. Do you know what country has been executing war games in this Strait?  That’s right folks, we may be close to another war!

This is because over the past 10 months (or more) Iran has been producing Enriched Uranium - the stuff that makes nuclear bombs.  They have not denied it and in fact are very open in their production - and American and Israel is obviously not happy about this, and have made threats for them to stop this uranium production.

In recent response, the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, Ali Mohammed Jafari, stated that if Iran were attacked by Israel or the United States, it would seal off the Strait of Hormuz, thereby wreaking havoc in oil markets. This statement followed other more ambiguous threats from Iran’s oil minister and other government officials that a Western attack on Iran would result in oil supply turmoil. Tehran also recently claimed that Tel Aviv would be set on fire if it attacked Iran. These guys aren’t exactly playing nice right?

If this attack happens, you can say goodbye to $4.50 gas - try paying $6.00 and higher.  Remember what is the single commodity that will bring America to it’s knees, that’s right -oil.  If you are getting nervous about paying $4.50 dollars per gallon right now, the war is the last thing you want to happen!  

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While we are still some time away from this technology, drinking water from your tailpipe is soon to become a reality.  So when will it happen, well your guess is as good as mine, but there have already been millions of dollars invested in this ground breaking alternative fuel.  In fact, UC Davis university has already produced fuel stations and developed proto-type cars that run on this so-called hydrogen cell. Let’s take a look some quick facts about Hydrogen Fuel Cells and what needs to take place before can mix our koolaid with the water from our exhaust… Continue Reading »

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I know that doesn’t exactly sound like a sane thing to do - lock in gas prices at over $4 a gallon. Like me, you are probably hoping there are going to go back soon. But with many financial analysts thinking that gas prices will soon hit at least $5 a gallon, if you could do this you would save some great money. But how would you even do that? 

Well there is a new online company called MyGallons.com that lets you do this very thing and claims to save you good money! So I thought I would check them out and offer my opinion on them… Continue Reading »

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And when I mean drive like a grandma in order to save on gas, you don’t have to drive an old beat up Cadillac, dye your hair gray and keep peering over the steering wheel like a startled rabbit.

Yes, you can actually save considerable money over the course of a year if you don’t drive 75 miles an hour on the freeways, and drive 60 instead. Why? Because you get way worse gas mileage the faster you drive. Assuming you drive 15,000 miles a year, and gas prices stay at $4 (which it is over now), you stand to save around $250 a year. Even more if you usually drive 85! There are savings not to be sneezed at!

Another way of saving money by being more ‘grandma’ like at driving, is by not being so heavy on the gas or the brake pedal. Yes, its sometimes fun to try and out-accelerate someone in their fancy BMW at the stop light when they aren’t paying attention. And by tailgating, you are more likely to brake harder. Both being heavy on the gas and hard on the brake pedal, the environmental protection agency estimates you will reduce your cars efficiency by 5%. This works out to be a saving of around $75 a year (for 15,000 miles a year at $4 a gallon) - even more for higher performance cars!

So if you start doing both of these grandma driving habits, fair enough, you aren’t likely to impress that hot chick or cool guy, but you could save yourself around $325 a year - enough for a weekend trip away somewhere! And no, you don’t have to wear dentures either to start driving this :)

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Are you going to be purchasing a car within the next 6 months to a year?  Trying to save on gas? Not sure whether to buy a regular Honda Civic or a Honda Civic Hybrid? 

Or whether to choose an E85 truck (ethanol fueled - i.e. corn based) versus a regular F-150?  Being torn between choosing a hybrid, or ethanol, or regular gas car is a common occurence these days, and consumers will be asking more and more questions between these in the coming years.  Lets see if I can sort out the advantages and disadvantages of these two popular alternative fuel vehicles on roads near you… Continue Reading »

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Tags: Alternative Fuels, E85 fuel, Flex- Fuel, Gas-Only Vehicles, Hybrids