Tag: per

Fuel Expansion Pinches Pennies at the Pump

  • You get more out of your tank of gas if it is purchased in a cold location versus a warm one (Photo by Ben VonWaggoner)

People who buy gasoline in cold
places get more bang for their buck than
people buying gas in warm places. Kyle
Norris explains:

Transcript

People who buy gasoline in cold
places get more bang for their buck than
people buying gas in warm places. Kyle
Norris explains:

Let’s say my friend Ana buys 10 gallons of gasoline in a cold place like the
Canadian tundra. And I buy 10 gallons of gas in the warm state of Florida.
My friend Ana will be able to drive further than I will with those 10 gallons.

That’s because gas expands at warm temperatures. But its energy content
does not.

There’s a gizmo gas stations can put on individual pumps that adjusts for
temperature differences. But each one costs a couple thousand bucks a pop.

Dave Maurer is with the US Government Accountability Office.

“There actually have not been a lot of studies done on the benefits and costs of installing this
equipment. Really what we found is that it’s not really known.”

Right now different states do different things. California has just started a
major study on this topic. But without much research, Maurer said it’s tough
for policy makers to make decisions.

For The Environment Report, I’m Kyle Norris.

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Fuel Economy Standards So Unreal

  • CAFÉ standards are based on fuel economy tests from the 1970s. (Photo by Ed Edahl, courtesy of FEMA)

Congress recently increased the Corporate Average

Fuel Economy standards, or CAFÉ standards. The new standard calls

for a car company’s entire fleet to average 35 miles per gallon

by 2020. But Mark Brush reports – there’s a problem with these

standards:

Transcript

Congress recently increased the Corporate Average

Fuel Economy standards, or CAFÉ standards. The new standard calls

for a car company’s entire fleet to average 35 miles per gallon

by 2020. But Mark Brush reports – there’s a problem with these

standards:

CAFÉ standards are based on fuel economy tests from the 1970s.

But the way people drive has changed a lot since then.

Engines are more powerful, people drive faster, and more cars use air conditioning.

That means these old tests don’t reflect the gas mileage we get today.

Experts say car companies are really averaging anywhere from 20 to 30% less than the
standards called for.

Jim Kliesch is with the Union of Concerned Scientists. He says the system should
change.

“If your representative is standing on Capitol Hill and telling you that they’ve raised
standards to 35 miles per gallon, you’d like to go out and buy a vehicle that can average
35 miles per gallon. Not one that averages 26, 27, 28 miles per gallon.”

There is a more accurate test available today.

Kliesch says it could be used to set CAFÉ standards if members of Congress require it.

For The Environment Report, I’m Mark Brush.

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