Doing my homework

Earlier in the week a coworker of mine was complaining about gas prices and she mentioned her frustration with the fact that we are not doing offshore drilling. Of course I totally disagree with offshore drilling but didn’t feel I had enough information to explain or debate with her. I decided to educate myself on the subject and thought you guys might be interested.

-Currently there are 33 millions acres of land, offshore, that is open to drilling and has not been explored.
-In addition to those acres there is 68 million acres of land in the lower 48 that is open to drilling and has not been explored.
-The majority of that acreage has been environmentally approved for exploration.
-The acreage that George Bush and John McCain want to open up is areas that are environmentally protected areas.
-If we do start drilling in those areas it will take at least 10 years before that oil shows us as gas at our pumps
-It will reduce the cost of gas by 2 cents per gallon.
-Bush has filled the Strategic Oil Reserve to 97.5%, approximately 700 million barrels, and refuses to open even a small percentage of the reserve to the public even though it has been paid for by the taxpayers already. The SOR is the fullest it has ever been in US history.

Think about who stands to benefit from the price of oil being so high.

“We have two oil men in office so of course the price of oil is going to go up. If Coronal Sanders was the president and the price of chicken went up we would know why.” Bill Maher

Obviously we cannot count on the government helping us out of this crisis. Alternative energy sources is really the only long term solution. In the mean time here are some tips to save on gas-

-Fill up in the morning. Gas is denser when it is cool so you will get more for your money.
-Stay above a half tank. Gas evaporates so the more air in the tank the more evaporation.
-Keep your tires aired up to maximum PSI. You will get better gas mileage.
-Remove non-essential items form your trunk. Weight increases the amount of gas you use.
-Keep your engine tuned up and replace your air filters regularly.
-Drive slower and avoid quick starts and stops. Don’t floor it.
-If you are close to your destination ride a bike or walk. With the money you save in gas you can buy an ipod which makes walking much more fun.
-Carpool
-Combine errands into one trip.
-Take the bus. It’s cheap and you can read a book while someone else deals with the driving.