Certains trouvent qu’aller faire du kayak sur le Potomac ; voir un match de baseball ; aller lécher la liberty bell à Philly…c’est la belle vie ! Et ils n’ont pas tort !
Certains trouvent que passer son temps dans le métro (ou dans le taxi qui coute cher) pour aller faire des interviews avec des gens qui ne viennent pas au rendez-vous ; que suivre la règle du bon journaliste : observation, investigation, interviews ; que relire 10 fois son article pour être sur qu’il n’y a pas d’erreurs d’orthographe… c’est pas aussi facile que ca en a l’air ! Et ils n’ont pas tort !
Voila, c’est un peu tout ca l’article qui suit : Un peu de prise de tête entre beaucoup de moments de plaisir… J’ai l’honneur de vous mettre en ligne (après 6 jours d’inactivités !)…
Soline Cussac smiles brightly as she puts gas on her white Chevrolet Trailblazer in Tonopah, NV. “I am so happy. I have found a gas station where the price of a gallon is less than $4,” says Cussac, 21, young lady enjoying a road trip around California and Nevada.
Four years ago no one would have been “happy” to pay almost $4 for a gallon of gas. According to the Energy Information Administration (E.I.A), the price of a gallon of gas was twice as low as it is now. Moreover, the price of a gallon has risen by 0.91 USD between September 2007 and September 2008 to an average of 3.76 USD.
“I don’t want to stay in Tonopah for the rest of my life! So, I would have had to tank up whatever the price”, says Cussac while putting the gas pump back in its place.
The energy crisis that the world and especially the United States are facing today is mostly due to the fact that our society and economy are based on fossil fuels only.
To have more control on oil prices, the United States ought to reduce its dependence on foreign oil and to produce more oil in the country. Another way for America to become less dependent on foreign oil is to build an energy-efficient economy. Since most of the oil is consumed by the transportation sector, automakers definitively play a role in the improvement of energy conservation and efficiency. Moreover, people have to change their consumer’s behaviour to start conserving energy.
“Tonight I want to have an unpleasant talk with you about a problem unprecedented in our history,” said Jimmy Carter, former President of the United States, in a televised speech on April 18, 1977. “With the exception of preventing war, this is the greatest challenge our country will face during our lifetimes. The energy crisis has not yet overwhelmed us, but it will if we do not act quickly,”
During the 1970’s, people thought we would run out of oil by 2000. In 2008, we still have oil reserves, but we are more dependent than before. According to the Report for Congress “Energy: Selected Facts and Numbers” updated on August 8, 2008, 84.7% of the energy consumption in the United States in 2006 came from fossil fuels: coal, natural gas, and oil that represented itself almost 40%.
This issue is not new. It has been around for a while; but become an urgent matter as the price of oil is steadily increases and weighs more and more on America’s economy. Oil addiction is definitively still a challenge. Nevertheless, it seems clear that we cannot avoid being dependent on oil in the short term.
“I don’t believe that other options have been viable solutions to providing us with ways to heat our home and to effectively run our automobile,” says Christopher J. Schaeffer, author of the newly published book “The Great President: The Policies that shaped the Bush Legacy”. “Gasoline, yes it does release what the environmentalists would say polluting elements, things improper for the environment, but again it is such a great product in quality that we could not live without.”
This is the reason why our first goal should become less dependent on foreign oil. One step to reduce dependence on foreign oil is to produce more oil in the U.S.
If the United States had to stop their oil importation tomorrow and produce the same amount of energy, it would have to produce around 18 million barrels per day instead of the 5.1 million that it is currently producing. This means an increase of 260% in the U.S. production. This solution is not possible in the short run or even in the long run.
The biggest issue in buying foreign oil is that it finances countries, especially Venezuela and some countries in the Middle East that are really against the American way of life and that could threaten Americans’ safety. However, Middle Eastern oil import represents around 16% and Venezuela around 10% of the total U.S. oil import. If the United States increases its oil production by 64%, it could avoid importing oil from these countries.
“But we only have three percent of the world’s oil supplies and we use 25 percent of the world’s oil”, said Barack Obama during the first presidential debate on September 26th, 2008. “So we can’t simply drill our way out of the problem.”
Indeed, we have to take a look at the other side of the coin. If the United States cannot improve its oil production significantly, then reducing oil consumption is one of the answers to the energy crisis.
“Fuel economy is directly related to energy security because light-duty vehicles account for approximately 40 percent of all U.S. oil consumption and much of this oil is imported,” noted the report titled “Light-Duty Automotive Technology and Fuel Economy Trends: 1975 Through 2008” published by the United States Environmental: Protection Agency (EPA):
If energy efficiency could allow a reduction of 50% of the light-duty vehicles’ oil consumption, this would reduce U.S. import from 60% to 50% of the U.S. consumption.
New technologies and investments in Research & Development of automakers permitted a lot of improvements. According to the report of the EPA, the average mileage per gallon (MPG) has increased by 53% to 20.1 miles per gallon from 1975 to 1998.
“In the short run, the automaker is pursuing continuous improvements – a kaizen approach, in which incremental improvements can add up to big gains in fuel economy.” writes Richard Truett in an article titled Fuels of the future: “Chase the dream but keep working on what you’ve got” published in the September 15th, 2008 issue of Automotive News, celebrating the 100-year anniversary of General Motors (GM). “In the long run, the company is betting on a Great Leap Forward with hydrogen-powered fuel cells and electric cars.”
Even if GM builds a two step strategy that makes sense, Toyota is for the moment the automaker that is considered to be the most advanced in energy efficiency.
“The Prius was introduced in 1997 in Japan,” says Diego Garcia, inventory manager at the Koons Arlington Toyota automotive company. “It was the first hybrid car and nobody thought we would succeed with this car.”
“The average MPG of the Prius is 45 miles, but it can increase up to 60 miles depending on how you are driving," continues Garcia. This MPG is far higher than the 25 miles average of the car fleet of the U.S.
In spite of these technological improvements, the average MPG slightly decreased from 1998 to 2004; the share of light trucks was reaching a peak at almost 50% of the total fleet. This decrease is not due to the lack of effort of automakers, but to the consumer’s behaviour. Every individual plays an important role in reducing America’s oil consumption and the way to make people’s behaviour change is price. Price is what matters.
“The reason why people buy the Toyota Prius is because it saves energy, that is to say money,” says Garcia. And as the energy crisis goes on with oil price hitting the roof, people are more willing to conserve energy and limit their spending in oil through energy efficiency.
“Every time the price of oil increases, the demand for the Prius increases. We now have a 3-month waiting list for this car!”
"Winnie l'Ourson et ses potes sont partis en vacances et ont emprunté la Bible de Gutenberg pour lire à la plage. Ils la rameneront courant automne."
Et devinez quoi? Nous tombons nez-à-nez avec un exemplaire de la Bible de Gutenberg! 
Une fois à l’intérieur, il est si facile de craquer pour un petit porte-monnaie qui ne vous servira pas. Et enfin, vous vous dites que finalement, les M&M’s, c’est peut-être pas si mauvais que ca et vous succombez à la tentation devant le mur de M&M’s !
Tout le monde n’est pas d’accord pour vous donner l’argent ! 700 Milliards, ca fait beaucoup quand même !
On dirait pas le coffre à Picsou franchement ?
