Gas 2.0

Norwegian Finance Minister, Kristin Halvorsen, and her Socialist Left Party have put forth a plan that would disallow the sale of new cars that run solely on gasoline after 2015.

Under the plan new cars such as hybrids, that run partially on gas, would still be allowed to be sold in the country, but any cars that only use gas as their power source would be illegal. Cars already on the road would be unaffected.

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Every time the price of oil drops, the demand for that same product increases and the  demand for alternate fuels, decreases. Why are gas prices falling?

China Daily reported that “oil dropped more than 6 percent to below $88.00 a barrel on Monday as a global market rout churned concerns that faltering fuel demand could slow further.”

In other words, we aren’t buying enough, so it’s time to lower the price.  But can anyone other than the people vested in that market honestly say that we don’t use enough oil?

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This post was originally published on Eco-Libris blog on September 28.

Bill Roth is the author of the new and important book “On Empty (Out of Time)“, which readers have described as “America’s final “wake-up call”" and “A must read if you want freedom from high pump prices!”.

We reviewed the book at the beginning of the month and I felt afterwards that this issue is way too important and requires an interview with the author to learn more about his views and thoughts on the energy issues we’re facing.

Firstly here’s a little background of the author (see also photo below): Bill Roth has a solid experience in the energy sector, with a career that included posts such as senior VP of marketing and sales with PG&E Energy Services and COO of Texaco Ovonics Hydrogen Solutions. Currently he is the President of NCCT, a San Francisco-based consulting firm helping businesses define and integrate Sustainability into their strategies, performance metrics, branding/marketing and business processes.. He is also Entrepreneur.com’s Green Business Coach.

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With American S.U.V. sales at an all time low and owners unable to sell them, manufacturers have had to come up with new market.  Right now that market is in Russia.

Russia, with a population of over 150 Million people, may not sound like the greatest market, but the fact that less than 20 percent of the population even owns a vehicle, makes it huge rife for potential.  According to Pricewaterhousecoopers LLP, Russian bought 1.6 million vehicles in the first six months of the year, a 40 per increase from the first half of 2007. Well, to begin with, gas cost’s more than half as much than in most Western European Markets.  Add in the fact that their economy is growing from between 6 and 8 percent annually, partly do to swelling commodity prices on its vast oil reserves, and the countries notoriusly rough roads and winters, and you have a mix ripe with possibilities.

Though Russia’s economy is doing well, housing continues to be very cost prohibitive to a great  portion of the population.  Not everyone can afford decent housing, and a lot of people have actually invested their money in high end S.U.V.’s to live in.

As with any society that is going through burgeoning growth, Russian consumers have become very brand conscience, and you can be sure that American Auto Manufacturers will be there to make sure that even they, can have a piece of the American Way.

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Editor’s note: There’s no doubt: Americans are feeling the pinch at the gas pump (even if we’re still paying less than residents of most other developed nations). Our friends at Low Impact Living, though, think Chrysler’s attempt to lure car buyers with the promise of gas at $2.99/gallon is, well, lame. This post was originally published on Friday, May 23rd, 2008.

Chrysler has recently launched its “Let’s Refuel America” campaign in which it claims to offer Americans protection from rising gas prices. Anyone buying a Chrysler in the month of May will get the deal. Here’s how it works: each qualifying buyer will get a ‘gas card’ that has been linked to their own credit card, but when they gas-up they will only pay $2.99 a gallon with Chrysler charged the difference. You can read more about it here.

This is a really lame-brained scheme. It reminds me of the McCain-Clinton proposal to cut federal gas taxes during the summer– it’s the wrong solution for our economic woes. Yes, we’re all hurting from gas prices and we need relief (what are the oil companies offering consumers in terms of help, hmmmm? anyone? hello?). But what Chrysler is offering is an incentive for consumers to ignore gas prices and drive, drive, drive– producing more green house gases and increasing global warming.

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Residents of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho are outpacing the national average decline in gas consumption, according to a new report by the Sightline Instutute.

In the last 8 years, residents of these states have cut back by about a gallon per week, for a total gas consumption reduction of 11%. In the Pacific Northwest, gas usage has fallen to its lowest level since 1966, while CO2 emissions from gasoline have fallen by six-tenths of a ton per capita since 1999. Read the rest of this entry »