The Natural Resources Defense Council has released its latest report on states' dependence on oil. The data for South Dakota look discouraging:
- In 2010, South Dakotans spent 5.26% of their income, $2044 per driver, on gasoline. That's up from our 2009 numbers of 4.32% of income, $1626, spent on gasoline.
- Preliminary data for April 2011 show gasoline taking an 8.10% bite out of our income. During the 2008 price spike, that percentage was 5.93% for the entire year.
- We rank 45th for efforts to wean ourselves from oil. NRDC finds us AWOL on vehicle greenhouse gas emission standards, state fleet efficiency, low-carbon fuel standards, incentives for electric vehicles and charging infrastructure, vehicle-miles traveled reduction targets, telecommuting policy, idling restrictions, growth management policies, and transit spending prioritization.
Now before you start shouting "Drill baby drill!" or sticking your head back in the Canadian oil sands in hopes of lowering costs through greater production, consider:
...oil is a global commodity. America's oil reserves are not big enough to ever really affect the price of oil by increasing production. Swings in oil prices will continue to affect the U.S. economy as long as our economy is so reliant on oil. Looking to Canada shows how beholden we are to a global marketplace—despite Canada having about nine times U.S. proven reserves and producing 1.5 times what they consume, Canadian prices at the pump track the global price of oil just as American prices do [David Gardiner & Associates LLC, Deron Lovass, and Justin Horner, "Ranking States' Gasoline Price Vulnerability and Solutions for Change," Natural Resources Defense Council, May 2011].
Instead of beating the supply side, we need to take a hard look at the demand side. The key to reducing our vulnerability to high oil prices is to use less oil. Drive smaller cars. Drive electric cars. Drive less, take the train and bus and bike more.
Pay-Go Insurance Saves Oil?
One surprising solution the NRDC report proposes for reducing oil dependence is Pay As You Drive (PAYD) car insurance. Think about it: the more you drive, the more chances you have of bending a fender and costing the company money. Every day your car is parked is a day your insurer is saving money. NRDC cites Ferriera & Minkel 2010 for a conservative estimate that PAYD insurance could save 160 million barrels of oil a year, not to mention $270 on your premium.
Mr. Goeman, does Farmers offer a policy like that? Will it work?
South Dakota; sell your POS american car and buy a Jetta.
Diesel is the fossil fuel of the future. Stop the war on the Earth.
I think Progressive and perhaps AmFam have something that is a bit of a hybrid of what you're thinking. A device is hooked up to your car that monitors your driving via GPS or satellite. It calculates your speed compared to posted limits and a variety of other criteria. If you follow the rules, your rates may drop in the future based on good driving behavior and miles driven. Doesn't really cut down on driving though. Until we reduce our use of gas-guzzling SUV's, Pickups, Vans and find a way to engineer Semi Tractors to get more than 5 miles per gallon, fuel consumption worldwide will increase as the population grows. Personally, I balance the limited use of our 24 mpg SUV with the 45.5 mpg of my diesel Jetta. Only filled the tank once in February.
Sorry, Larry: I went with the gasoline VW Bug. But the 34 MPG I got cruising gently across Minnesota beat the 17 mpg I got with a tailwind in the Jeep.
I must admit, Rod, the GPS aspect of that insurance plan makes me queasy. Can we do the PAYD plan with a simple odometer check?
Oh sure, I'll take the train the next time I have to go to Sioux Falls. I'll also bike my toddler aged kids to daycare. Even when it's below zero in the winter, I'm sure they'll be just fine in the kid trailer attached to my bike.
Excuses, excuses, JB. South Dakota used to support passenger trains all over the state. One old gal I talked to recalled taking the train every week from her home in Sinai to school in Canton. We can find alternatives. We might even be able to make insulated bike trailers.
I agree in principle. Yet there is no train between Madison and Sioux Falls. So it's a moot point. As for electric cars, I'd love to have one but I cannot afford to buy a car that expensive. That's not an excuse. It's an unfortunate fact.
My wife and I do our best to minimize how often we drive our vehicles. We even still drive our 14 year old Chevy because it gets 30 MPH. But when you live in cold weather and have little kids, suddenly it gets harder to say just walk somewhere, or ride your bike through snow drifts in subzero weather, and we don't really have public mass transit in Madison. So...
Agreed: principle and fact bump roughly against each other. Don't worry: I won't mandate that you carry your children on your shoulders through the snow. I drive my little one a lot of places as well.
But I also never let the status quo stand in the way of coming up with ways to radically change it. We can get that train back. We can reinvest in mass transit. We can bring down the cost of electric vehicles through mass production. The fact that we are dependent on oil shouldn't discourage us from finding ways to end that dependence.