From the Fact Check Desk: Are Obama’s Claims About Inflating Car Tires Accurate?

Seriously, this gets the factcheck treatment? That’s all to the well and good but there was significant point to Sen. Obama’s attack on Sen. McCain’s proposals that could have used scrutiny.

Doesn’t that presume you would get double the amount of oil if you expanded drilling rights? Obama isn’t talking about ending offshore drilling altogether, and he was speaking of the “expected” benefits of that expansion.

McCain wants America to stop supporting countries that fund terrorists with our gasoline dollars. Inflating our tires will help conserve oil, but does absolutely nothing to stop the flow of money to terrorists and Chavez. I hope Obama sticks to his guns on this one; this issue alone can cost him the election.

One thing the estimate did not take into account is the annual growth in the number of automobiles in this country. Also, a barrel of oil is not dedicated only to gasoline production. Lets not forget, there is diesel and jet. On top of all of that, there is heating oil which is also used. So, no, there is no way that the perceived conservation can match what can be produced from off shore drilling and production.

Unforced error. There was no reason for Obama to make up this claim, other than to try and make it seem as if his arguments were stronger than they were. That’s old-style politics, something I thought Obama was going to CHANGE…

I took it as.. If you go with McCain and his proposals then what you will be saving in your bank account will be what you can save if you just air up your tires.
Go Obama… you are a smart man.

This ‘solution’ is just more useless pontification which completely ignores the bigger problem and the bigger decisions to be made….by a real LEADER! When he realizes that this issue is a big achilles heal and flips or backs down and stops lecturing us and agrees that drilling needs to be done, what will you do Rhoda? He is an empty suit, and oblivious to how severe the energy crisis impacts our economy, our country and future. And if is not oblivious and still has this position, then he is bought and paid for by the environmentalist lobby. Hope and Change my @#$

This guy is the presumptive Democratic nominee in an election where energy is front and center, and his suggestion is to watch our tire pressure and make sure our cars are tuned up? Really?!?
What a joke.

seriously why don’t you do a fact check on drilling for oil. How about a fact check of how much oil is going to cost us in 10-20 years despite how much we drill. How about a fact check on if we can even afford an oil based economy in the next generation?
Why don’t we ask how much it is costing us in our electric rates, for those lights that are left on in all those buisnesses each night, highway signs, car lots, etc.
Do a fact check on how much we could save by driving the speed limit, and driving smaller cars for our commute.
It seems to me that Obama was talking about conservation in general. I guess he could have listed all the things we could do for those who can not make the leap.

This guy is the presumptive Democratic nominee in an election where energy is front and center, and his suggestion is to watch our tire pressure and make sure our cars are tuned up? Really?!?
What a joke.
Citizen Duck
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Are you one of Rush Limbaugh listeners? I guess you didn’t read the whole post which suggested that there is indeed some real savings to be made.
This boils down to the core of the American society. A wasteful society in which many always laugh at simple suggestions that could make a real impact in their immediate environment and the rest of the world. Sad!

I believe that the import of Obama’s comments such as this is that there are things, sometimes small things, that each of us can do to better the economy, environment, or culture. It goes along with his frequently-repeated point that any real and meaningful change is going to have to come from the people, from concerted effort and pressure and sometimes self-sacrifice. — Look at the list of suggested actions that scroll across the screen at the end of “An Inconvenient Truth”. Little things, some of them tiny, but if ALL of us did them ALL the time, the impact would be huge. — Obama’s point is that we should look at the small things we can do, comparatively easily and right now, to permanently address some of our problems rather than expecting big government to swoop in with a “cure” to “save the day.” — In energy, if we can ‘buy enough time’ to explore alternative methods and sources by inflating tires, using cruise control and other methods within our grasp, why should we undertake the risky, harmful, not-immediate and ultimately dead-end solution of off-shore drilling? I think it’s a fair – and important – question. —- Anyway, mocking something a la Limbaugh is the easiest thing in the world to do, and it’s not worth even the hot air it produces.

Maybe Obama could institute a mandatory air pressure tire check. Hire lots of federal employees to police auto tires. Those tires that aren´t inflated properly are given fines by the Tire Police.
Or next Obama will realize that overweight people cause gas mileage to be worse. (More weight in the car means worse gas mileage.)
And so if everyone in the U.S. went on a diet we would save more gas that way.

And how is he going to enforce this? Government funded tuneups? Fines for underinflated tires? People can’t afford to put gas in their tanks, HELLO!! This pie in the sky stuff may make some people feel good, but it’s never going to happen. How about some real solutions…well, I guess those would offend the radical environmentalists.

I admit, I’m the first guy out there to try whatever I can to improve fuel economy and decrease emissions. I bought a Prius before they were a hot item – and I don’t even rack up 8k miles per year.
I could wish everyone would change their habits and take care of their cars, etc. I also wish we could leave ANWR and off-shore drilling alone.
But in my mind we have a 100+ million car problem. Whatever you want to do about oil prices and alternative energy, you have to acknowledge the fact that there are over 100 million cars on US roads. You can’t wave a magic wand and make them disappear. You can’t make them (significantly) more efficient. And you can’t dangle a fancy new technology (e.g. fuel cell, electric, etc) in front of people and expect them all to rush out and buy it.
So, a valid solution must:
A) acknowledge the life cycle of 100MM+ cars that use gas.
B) plan for energy consumption by this fleet until it’s significantly replaced.
C) understand that oil-producing countries that hate the US have little incentive to change their tune. They’ve already done the math – obviously, the US can’t say we’re gonna stop buying oil if they don’t stop anti-American activities. Where else are we gonna get the oil until B happens?
The long-term plan must be to replace the internal combustion engine. But it’s gonna take time to do it, and propagate it’s replacement across the US. It’ll take at least as long as Dems say it’ll take to see gas derived from OCS drilling.
I desperately want to hear a real solution from the Dems or Sierra Club that addresses these items. I haven’t yet.
If you don’t know anyone in the oil services industry, hook up with someone at Schlumberger, etc. These guys are all over the world exploring, drilling, etc. If we don’t do it here, someone’s drilling in another eco-system.
We can control our political and energy destiny by expanding domestic exploration and production. We can also exert more environmental control over production in our backyard than we can over that done in OPEC countries.

Hillary was the ONLY candidate willing to tell the Truth – the rise in gas prices is the result of the futures market.
A handful of people “deciding” what gas prices will be in 6 months, etc. – and THEY are financially rewarded when the gas prices are HIGHER – not lower.

Obama proves once again that he is the second coming of Jimmy Carter. In 1977, Jimmah said that we would be out of oil by the mid-1980′s and we should start conserving. Reagan reversed his bans on drilling and we were flush with oil for another couple of decades.
I hope Obama keeps touting the conservation-only line. Americans don’t like it, never have, and will send him back to Illinois.

HonestAbe: “I have been keeping my tires inflated to max recommended psi for years for improved gas mileage. This is common knowledge among the informed.”
That might still be too low in your situation. Those recommendations are made with safety concerns under special circumstances in mind (think snow and sleet in winter). During summertime and in dry regions, you can still pump up the psi.

Correction – Missouri rally. I think Obama was in Cedar Rapids today.

It is interesting that Obama is sticking to pretty SAFE comments. ISRAEL CONSIDERING ATTACKING IRAN – PROFOUND – WHO WOULD DISPUTE THAT? AND NOW – INFLATE TIRES TO SAVE ON GAS? AGAIN, PROFOUND!!
PROBLEM IS….. THAT’S PRETTY MUCH TYPICAL OF OBAMA’S SOLUTION TO INCREASING OUR DOMESTIC PRODUCTION!! WHERE IS THE BEEF? MCCAIN for more drilling and refining. Obama….?

Most of us learned that inflating the tires saves on gas and a general tune up is necessary for the same, but it doesn’t change the price of gas. It just changes the amount you might use. Obama’s argument is accurate only to a point and under the present circumstances it doesn’t make any of us feel any better; especially those of us who already keep our cars in tune and air. We too feel the pinch of the price of petrol.

HAHAHAHA. So Obama was basically correct.
Now the factcheck on McCain’s claim that offshore drilling would lower gas prices in the near future.
ROTFLMAO.
It won’t even lower gas prices in the *distant* future.
McCain is so toast.
================================
A strong signal to the markets that we would dramatically increase domestic oil production would make the price drop like a rock. Simple economics.
Obama is toast.

There is one thing that has been completely ignored about our consumption of oil, gas and petroleum. Petroleum is used to manufacture all type of plastics, vinyl, fabrics, cosmetics, furniture, road surfaces–there are thousands of products. When one sees all the plastic items that are tossed after one use, thousands of tons hit our garbage pile every day. Sterofoam cups, plates, water and drink bottle, food containers included in throw-aways. It would be interesting to know how many barrel are used for these.

In today’s environment, most cars don’t get tuneups. They change spark pugs every 100,000 miles. They get their air filters checked and their tire pressure checked when they get their oil changed. Obama doesn’t have a plan or a clue. Everything must be on the table, including drilling. One thing for the green wackos to think about – would drilling off the US coast be safer for the world than drilling off the coast of a third world country? These green wackos are just typical NIMBY(Not in my back yard) liberals. We are the most responsible drillers in the world. We should be doing most of the drilling if they cared about the world’s environment.

To CLARIFY the average REPUBLICAN Likely does a better job maintaining their tires. —Rant on—

I miss Hillary. At least she was qualified.

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.
For you idiots that are reading that Obama was right read again.This assumption is not even close to being true. It was a stupid remark

Let us hope this is his Dukakis’ moment! Let us all line up at the air pump instead of the gas pump and give our money to the tune-up guy instead of the gas guy! I believe that most Americans are responsible drivers and regularly do both those things – primarily for the safety of their families and for the longevity of their cars!

The percentages of saved gas the author makes are theoretical maximums. MSN even had an article testing whether a clean or dirty air filter would have a large change in fuel economy. They barely showed a 0.5% change. Cut in half the other percentages for an average and you are looking at maybe 5% increase. So actually looking at 19 million gallons instead of 68 which translates into 450,000 barrels of oil. With current oil tech it is estimated OCS production would quadruple increase to about 5 million barrels. Far more than half a million saved if everyone tuned up. This doesn’t include Alaska and oil shale. Obama should go back to college and take some math, he needs it.

Hillary was the ONLY candidate willing to tell the Truth – the rise in gas prices is the result of the futures market.
A handful of people “deciding” what gas prices will be in 6 months, etc. – and THEY are financially rewarded when the gas prices are HIGHER – not lower.
Posted by: JoseyJ | Jul 31, 2008 5:52:40 PM
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Apparently you are not familiar with short sales. You can make money by betting that a price will go lower.
And FWIW, the price of oil has decreased over the last few weeks. The regulation over the futures market has not increased in that same period of time.
Global demand is down as is domestic demand.
I guess supply and demand really ARE involved.

It’s called supply and demand. When supply increases prices go down. When supply decreases prices go up. When demand increases then prices go up. When demand decreases prices go down.
It’s basic economics. Now if only we could get the 2 geniuses currently running for President to sit down and read an Econ 101 textbook.

Obama is running for the job of President of the United States.
Currently, the President is paid a salary of $400,000 per year.
Telling us all to get regular tune-ups and keep our tires inflated is good advice.
But it’s still not worth $400,000.

What knowledge do you have about taking 10 to 20 years to bring oil on line? Or, are we just stating the propoganda that is coming from our democratic congress?
It’s time to hear all the experts who can give us the immediate solution that is going to solve our energy problem NOW? How many windmills can you get set up to take care of our problem NOW? How many solar panels NOW? Since you are against nuclear we won’t ask you to use those immediately. Oh that’s right, we’re going conserve our way out of this problem. Answer, start walking or ride your horse if you don’t think that is cruelty to animals. Let’s find out where Mr. Gore has his money invested. Could it be alternative energy?

1.25 million barrels is extremely conservative.
Drill both coasts and the Gulf and it becomes mch more than that.

These estimated savings aren’t aggregate. You might see savings individually but it is ridiculous to hypothesize an aggregate across an ENTIRE population. What if we all made sure our tires were filled up AND drilled? And pursued coal, nuclear, wind, solar and wave power??? Ah, but that is a solution, and what Obama and his cronies want is for us to be dependent on the government. Where is all this “CHANGE” we’ve been hearing about???

All this snide rejection of taking personal responsibility for your gasoline consumption from the Republicans…you know, the party of personal responsibility. Oh, and all this begging the Federal Government to fix the cost of oil from the Republicans…you know, the party of small government. Oh, and the utter lack of statements like “if you don’t like the price of gas, stop buying it and the free market forces will adjust the price” coming from the Republicans…you know, the “laissez faire” party.
What do you guys stand for, again?

Your fuel economy figures are a bit off. First of all, the 4% savings for a properly tuned car is not a maximum, it is the average. And, they note that serious problems could cause inefficiencies of up to 40%. Also, there is a savings for slightly underinflated tires, not just seriously underinflated tires. Your link to fueleconomy.gov is broken too.

Robin B said: “What’s the unintended consequences of increasing air pressure in tires? More wear and tear. Less traction. More accidents in sloppy road conditions.”
Uh, you’re talking about OVER-inflated tires. Tires at the *correct* operating pressure are engineering to have the best compromise of all attributes. And in fact, higher pressures in the wet and snow actually *help* grip up to a point. I model tires in software for auto manufacturers, I should know.

“All this snide rejection of taking personal responsibility for your gasoline consumption from the Republicans…you know, the party of personal responsibility.”
I don’t think anyone was rejecting the idea that properly inflating tires will increase gas mileage. What they (we) are rejecting is the frankly idiotic assertion that such a move would save an amount of fuel anywhere near what would be available through an expansion of OCS/ANWR drilling, as well as the arrogant implication that even if such a savings were possible, it would absolve Congress of the responsibility of action.
“Oh, and the utter lack of statements like ‘if you don’t like the price of gas, stop buying it and the free market forces will adjust the price’ coming from the Republicans…you know, the ‘laissez faire’ party.”
I follow this stuff pretty closely, and I’ve never heard anyone say such a ludicrous thing, particularly not anyone in any authoritative position within the Republican party. The closest I’ve seen anyone come are those stupid “let’s stick it to the oil companies by not buying gas next Thursday” forwarded emails. But let’s see, which party’s stock in trade is it to sow discontent against oil companies?
“Oh, and all this begging the Federal Government to fix the cost of oil from the Republicans…you know, the party of small government.”
This is the real howler in your post. You couldn’t have possibly gotten the situation more backwards. Begging the government to “fix” the cost of oil? The vast majority of Americans, including nearly all Republicans, are asking government to GET OUT OF THE WAY by repealing bans that they have enacted against energy development. No one on this side is asking the government to provide them with oil. We’re asking the government to stop prohibiting private entities from doing so. How could this distinction be any more clear?

Bob: Two reasons: First, GM spent over a billion dollars to develop that car, and they were only able to lease about 1,000 of them (that’s at least $1,000,000 per car, for those playing at home). The cars had really bad battery life, which is still the problem today. If you want an electric car, you can now get one from companies like Tesla, but it will cost you an amount in the six figures, meaning that you’ll spend MUCH more than you’ll save on gas.
Second, the same environmentalists that own the likes of Pelosi and Reid are opposed to the two best sources of electric power, nuclear and coal. If we were to, en masse, switch over to electric cars, the power grids couldn’t possibly handle it.
Face it, folks: for the semi-long-term future, the answer is still fossil fuels. We should be doing all the alt energy stuff we can, but it has to be an “and,” not an “or.”

Kris: Hogwash. Obama’s statement was that the savings would be equal to “all the oil [drilling advocates are] talking about getting off drilling.” You’re using a number that represents an estimate of what the government believes will be produced, at a time 22 years from now, from spots currently open to drilling.
The truth is, the OCS is estimated to have 18 billion barrels of oil, although it certainly has more, since the exploration that would find more is largely prohibited. (I’m not even going to include oil shale, which is predicted to be able to produce the equivalent of 2.1 TRILLION barrels of crude.) That’s 352.8 billion gallons of gas. By your calculations, proper tire inflation would save 1.2 billion gallons of gas per year.
So, in the end, Obama’s assertion is technically true. Inflating your tires would save as much gas as would be produced by OCS drilling–it’ll just take 294 years to do so.

100 year wars are better than keeping an eye on your tire pressure.

I can’t believe people are doing the calculations on what has to be one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard.
Hey, maybe with enogh conservation & math, we won’t need any oil at all.

An automobile tire weighs about 20 pounds, with a diameter ranging from 18-30 inches. In addition to rubber, a tire contains some steel in the bead and some rayon or steel in the belt. An average tire is produced from about 2.5 gallons of petroleum, making it a good source of heat energy. Shredded or chipped tires, without their steel belts, have an energy content ranging from 14,000 to 15,000 Btu per pound. Coal has an energy content of 8,000 to 12,000 Btu per pound.
the 2.5 gallons is just in the mix
“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.
Current crude oil and condensate production in the OCS is about 1.25 million barrels per day.
…..and I am sure there are production estimates out there too. It is intellectually dishonest to use the current offshore production numbers in this calculation. That number DOES NOT represent the production increase if the restricted areas are opened up.
anybody that believes that there are no production estimates for these areas is in a coma or something. I would think that in the case of Verrastro the something else would apply.
what I want to know is just how much the price at the pump will be affected if the restricted parts of OCS is opened to production

Walter66–The Energy Information Administration (EIA) has produced estimates of the production increase if the restricted areas are opened up. The title of the study is “”Impacts of Increased Access to Oil and Natural Gas Resources in the Lower 48 Federal Outer Continental Shelf.”
Production will come on line very slowly, and in the year 2030, the additional production from drilling in the now prohibited Outer Continental Shelf will be 200,000 barrels per day–just about exactly what we’d save if all tires were properly inflated.
According to the EIA, “any impact on average wellhead prices is expected to be insignificant.”

So many rediculous posts.
McCain supports off-shore drilling and conservation methods in order to lessen our dependancy on foreign oil whil we develop alternative fuels. It will take time to implement new fuels and change our culture and our oil based economy.
Obama thinks tune-ups and properly inflated tires will significantly reduce our oil dependancy so that we can pursue alternative fuels without drilling for new oil. If we decide not to drill, oil futures will skyrocket and we will be paying $10 a gallon within 2-3 years.
With our own oil, we can impose sanctions on Iran without fear of them cutting of 40% of the worlds oil. And after we develop alternative fuels, we will be in position to sell our oil in the world market. With a little competetion, oil prices around the world will fall.
One last thing to the knuckleheads that say “Why aren’t the oil compnaies drilling on the rest of the land that is leased to them?”. There is no oil there!

Great. Most certainly we can maintaing our cars appropriately, but let’s not fool ourselves. We can’t inflate ourselves out of this.
Using the same logic as the folks that say “all that oil might go overseas anyway”, will not our savings from proper inflation be sucked up by overseas interests anyway?
I just don’t see how increasing the supply is a bad thing. I’d rather start now.

WOW! You guys can debate and figure costs and savings till the cows come home, but the fact remains the cost of maintaining the National Tire Pressure and Engine Tune-up Police Force to guarantee the savings Mr. Obama contends, would far outweigh the savings. I vote we all try to be as responsible as possible and maintain our tire pressure and have regular tune ups not only saving fuel dollars but help to reduce our dependence. But just as speed limits and fines and increased insurance premiums haven’t done much to reduce speeding, I don’t think the savings in gas will cause every one to rush out and service their cars. So, once more, we need action on the part of our government to save us from ourselves, and those like Mr. Obama who don’t really understand us. Drill here, Drill now, Drill the OCS, drill the oil shale, and drill in the ANWR, while the nuclear, clean coal, wind, solar and bio fuel sources can be developed. Although the drilling will take a few years to really produce, any thing we do to conserve now, will have an immediate effect. That includes tax breaks for conservation, by promoting more efficient cars, appliances, new homes, improvements to older homes etc. The signal we send to the markets of our committment to a total energy policy WILL reduce oil prices in the short term.

Kevin,
I think that you are onto something here, although I believe that you stopped short of totaling all the relevant factors.
If we are going to discuss the savings from tire inflation, you need to factor in the costs to operate the air hose and the gas station that hosts said air hose(and of course building, supplying and powering up all the necessary manpower, offices, computers, etc. necessary to run such an operation).
Of course, tune ups bear there own respective cost structure that indeed parallels that of the air hose.
Kevin, I’m just not smart enough to put that all together coherently here in this comment, but I’m fairly certain that in addition to conservation, our petroleum based economy could use some more oil.

I suggest the decline in crude prices is the result of “discovering” a few days before Bush’s action, that the US driving public had reduced fuel consumption a little more than 2% in the last few months and gasoline inventories were increasing surprisingly rapidly.

With the 10% ethanol blend gasoline, you get 3% less gas mileage, so it’s the alternative idiots solution to the other problem they caused.

The only way that you can accurately and properly inflate your tires is to do it when they are cold, after you drive to the gas station they have warmed up and you can no longer get the correct pressure. Check your owners manual. Now that means the first thing everyone will have to do is put a compressor in their garage so they can check the pressure and then inflate their tires. Of course you could drive to the nearest tire inflation station and let you car sit for several hours while the tires cool down. By the way you need to buy your own tire gauge because the ones in gas stations are usually off by several pounds because of the abuse they receive. Is this practical or even doable? I think not but it does show how little Obama knows about this subject, but is still ready to shoot off his mouth. (And yes I do have a compressor in my garage and yes I do check and inflate my tires when they are cold.)

Kevin said:
“Every gallon saved through conservation, equals roughly 4 gallons of crude oil. ”
The hyperbole is getting a bit ridiculous here. Can we cease and desist?

I’m a little confused. Kevin and one other person has asserted some strange beliefs that one barrel of oil (42 gallons) winds up with either 12 or 19.6 gallons of gas.
If one barrel is 12 gallons, and a barrel was recently selling for $147, then gas would sell at a wholesale price of $12.25.
If one barrel is 20 gallons, and a barrel was recently selling for $147, then gas would wholesale for $7.50 a gallon.
Since none of these figures include allowances for taxes (about $ 0.50 a gallon or more) or dealer markups (surprisingly low, I think about $ 0.20 a gallon) it seems like they have to be wrong because at the time oil was $147 a barrel, gas was actually selling at retail in most places for $3.99 a gallon.
Right now, with oil at around $120/bbl, and gas at about $ 3.90 a gallon, a barrel must yield at least 30 gallons. Subtract out approximate taxes and markup and you get about $3.30 a gallon or about 36.36 gallons per barrel.
Since there are also refining costs and wholesaler and oil company profits to add, I come to the conclusion that it’s extremely likely that the exchange price is based on usable gasoline and not simply unrefined crude oil.
Or perhaps anything that’s taken out is replaced by additives put in, like the 10% ethanol that’s now in most gas.
So if I were making any estimates of savings, I would use the full 42 gallons per barrel of oil.
One point often left out of arguments like this is that we only know the oil we explore. We look for oil, and when we find it, it’s recorded. If we are not going to drill offshore, we will not look for it there. So you will know the actual volume of oil produced, whether offshore or in ANWR, only when you open it up for exploration.
This is why you hear the two sides arguing “There are billions of gallons in ANWR, why don’t we explore it” and “There’s not enough oil in ANWR to fill a teacup”. The reality is that it’s likely that there are huge amounts of oil in ANWR but we will not know for sure until we go there and find out. The first guy is using his best guess as to how much is down there, the second guy is using only official, “proven” figures. The truth is likely to be in between, but likely to be far, far higher than the pessimist.
Personally, I’d like to see a common sense solution to this problem: Let the individual state governments decide, in conjunction with those who live there. In the case of Alaska. this would mean ANWR would be opened up for exploration almost immediately. The handful of people masochistic enough to live up there in the cold would have their lives dramatically improved for the better by drilling revenues.
The people who say how much they love the pristine wilderness will never come there to visit, and there are good reasons for this.
Even during the summer it is bone-chillingly cold, and there are no Whole Foods Markets or Four Seasons Hotels to make your visit pleasant. If you are truly insane or curious enough to want to come up there, the handful of available tours cost more than $10,000 per week, and conditions are such that they all but require physical examinations to make sure you’re going to be able to make it back.
Trust me, if you want natural beauty you’ll find more on Richard Branson’s Necker Island or, if you insist on not spending $50,000 a week, Bermuda.
California and Florida might still be forever restricted from drilling under this scenerio. Their diversified economies are sufficiently vibrant so that drilling would not make the lottery winner impact it would on ANWR.
I believe Governor Swarzenegger happens to own a home in Pacific Palisades valued in the millions of dollars and I can’t blame him if he doesn’t want to see an oil rig as part of his sweeping ocean view. If I had that kind of money and view I might feel the same way. Although when I did live in Santa Barbara with an ocean view, I actually liked seeing the oil rigs with their twinkling lights offsetting the dark of the ocean at night. So maybe we should ask him to give rigs a chance. Might even grow on him.
Oil drilling technology has improved and it would not surprise me if oil companies and drilling opponents could make a fair accommodation. Here in Pennsylvania we have side drilling for natural gas and it’s barely visible on the surface. Technology marches on.
D

Jim Hurley said:
“The only way that you can accurately and properly inflate your tires is to do it when they are cold, after you drive to the gas station they have warmed up and you can no longer get the correct pressure. … Now that means the first thing everyone will have to do is put a compressor in their garage so they can check the pressure and then inflate their tires.”
Actually there’s a much cheaper solution than having your own air compressor. Buy a tire pressure gage and measure your tires while they are cold to determine how much extra air they need. Then go to the gas station, remeasure them (now that they’ve warmed up), and add the corresponding incremental percentages of air. It won’t be exact (since you’re adding cold air to warm air) but it will be close.
This does not mean that I think we should substitute conservation for more oil exploration and energy production. It just means that some conservation measures such as proper tire inflation do not require a lot of expensive equipment. It just requires investing your time.
I don’t usually bother. My time is generally more valuable to me than shaving tiny fractions off of my energy costs. If gasoline gets up to $5 or $6 per gallon I may reconsider. Other people with a lower price point trade-off may choose to invest their time now in conservation efforts.
Let’s leave it up to individual choices. Get government out of the way of oil and shale exploitation; eliminate arbitrary regulations and environmental restrictions which have no substantive value; reduce tax rates so as to encourage investment and technical innovation; and allow the free market to operate.

Considering the feasibility of getting everybody in this country with a car to keep it getting its top mileage every day of the year, I’d say offshore drilling is a whole lot easier. This kind of “fact checking” is not really useful, because Mr. Verrastro’s maximum (estimated) fuel economy isn’t really a choice.
If we quit burning fossil fuels, would global warming be reversed? What difference does it make? People have always burned fuel to make their lives better. Getting them to stop is a fool’s errand, and so is expecting people to check their tire pressure every time they drive. It’s a bureaucratic fix, but it’s also a nuisance most people will skip.

Please people – we need oil, and we need it for the forseeable future. So – how do we get it – drill, produce from oil shale – whatever we have to do. Conservation by inflating tires may save a small amout of gasoline, but in the grand scheme of things – not a hell-of-a-lot. Drill on the outer continnental shelf – the inner continental shelf – wherever the seismic tests and geology tell us there are vast pools of oil. We must go for it.
If it hurts your scenic view – so be it – it’s better than having families not be able to drive to work, or cut down on their food because they have to pay $4.00 for a gallon of gasoline.
If there is an oil spill (and there may not be one, remember) – we will clean it up, and, excuse me, if a relatively few fish or sea gulls die, that’s the price we (they(?)) will pay. More fish and sea gulls will come along. That’s the way of nature – they reproduce. I’d rather that happen than have people not be able to heat their homes. (Remember – it may not happen – consider that the worst case scenarion will not happen)You want more domestic oil – turn the oil companies loose to do what they do best – find, produce and deliver oil. It’ll take a few years to get into full swing, but remember – if Pres. Clinton had not vetoed the ANWAR drilling bill, ten + years ago – that oil would be available today. We can’t go back – but let’s not make the same mistake twice.
Stop worrying about how much will be saved by properly inflating tires. America is in crisis – and it must act while it can.
Remember the old poem:
“No matter what your aim in life,
No matter what your goal,
Keep your eye upon the donut,
and not upon the hole.”
The goal is to get more domestic oil. Everything else is a side show.
I know this is not a politicaly correct solution – danger to those furry little pelicans, or fish, etc. – but sometimes the risk is well worth the reward.
Of course – solar, wind, coal etc. must be pursued – but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t drill, drill, drill. There is no reasonable alternative, no matter what anyone says.

Seeing as most engines today are run by engine management computers that keep things pretty optimized, and that a ‘tune up’ with change of spark plugs, etc. is recommended every 100,000 miles on many cars, I’m wondering how many cars are really that out of tune. We haven’t bought a car that needed a ‘tune-up’ any more frequently other than change of fluids since 1994 or so.

Brian sez……” At today’s price of roughly $120 per barrel, 10 times or more of this amount could be viably recovered.”
so we’ll get 10 times more oil at $120 per barrel…..where’s the savngs in that? We have $120/barrel of oil today and the price of gas is $3.60 so if we had 10 times the amount of $120 oil the gas price would be what…….$3.60?

Verrastro’s numbers still VASTLY overstate potential savings. His worst case scenario, which assumes that every car in America has 4 underinflated tires, an incredibly filthy air cleaner, needs a tuneup and is using the wrong oil, is 18-19% savings. He then correctly says that this cannot be true. However, he then adjusts the potential savings to 10%? SO what he’s suggesting is that OVER HALF the cars in America have all those faults, or that nearly every car has at least some of them.
Looking at the NHTSA tire information, the indication is that 27% have ONE or more underinflated tire, and only 3% have all four, another 3% had 3, and 7% had two, leaving 14% with only one low tire. Calculating that out, the savings would be 0.4% That’s closer to 1/10th of the worst case scenario than 1/2.
Some of the other categories of “savings” are even less likely. How many cars in the US are using the wrong oil? How many have plugged air filters?(even for those who do, I would dispute the 10%, as that number is probably for a carbeurated car, not a fuel injected car with oxygen sensors and a computer that automatically adjusts the fuel/air mixture.
Lets give him the benefit of the doubt, and say the ratio is the same as for the tires, 12.25% of the worst case scenario. That means that, rather than 19% saved, it is likely that those changes would save 2.32%, resluting in less than 1/4th of his estimate of 800 million barrels a day (approximately 180 million). That also assumes that EVERY single auto that has one of the above problems is fixed, and that from that point forward, every single car is constantly maintained at 100%.

Brian, I don’t remember much talk about ending the drilling moritorium when oil was $70 a barrel. Something tells me it wasn’t that attractive to the oil companies. Now, at $120/bbl, there’s a whole lot of interest.
if oil was $70/bbl,would we even be talking about lifting the moratorium?

“the NHTSA tire information, the indication is that 27% have ONE or more underinflated tire, and only 3% have all four, another 3% had 3, and 7% had two, leaving 14% with only one low tire. Calculating that out, the savings would be 0.4%”
Awesome comment Southerner!
I found the NHTSA info saying 27% for at least one and 3% for all four. Where do the other #’s come from? I’m eager to give them to a friend who’s been waving the TIME.com Grunwald piece in my face!

Using the website FuelEconomy, 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.”
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Umm this assumes that nobody keeps proper inflation, and maintenance of their car. *** EPIC FAIL ***

Tim wrote:
“Umm this assumes that nobody keeps proper inflation, and maintenance of their car. *** EPIC FAIL ***”
More like “Reading fail” on your part. Read further down in the article above:
“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,’”

I understand both parties but one thing we want,to save fuel in different ways.There’s a lot of thing we can do and with the proper tire inflation it’s also for safety while on the road.