New Ideas



So I've been thinking about oil and cars too much lately, for various reasons, and I've created a new statistic (that is getting worked into a paper for my oil class)... here it is


That is (estimated based on actual US Government numbers) the Miles/Gallon rate of fuel economy for all road transportation in the United States since 1960. Unfortunately the latest data is from 2004, so unfortunately the latest numbers aren't there. You will notice though, that we haven't met 20 MPG yet, and according to a linear regression, won't make it there by 2010. Is this acceptable? Heck no.

I think that statistic could be particularly useful in terms of analyzing actual progress in changing our pollution as a nation- who cares if SULEV cars are being sold- if we don't stop guzzling gas, we're just as in trouble. I just wanted to post this because, well, I'm proud of myself for managing to get the data together to form something coherent.

Sources (yes, I really do have to put them in ASA format because I'm a dork):

United States. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. 2005. "Table 1-32: U.S. Vehicle-Miles" in National Transportation Statistics. http://www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/2005/html/table_01_32.html

United States. Energy Information Administration. 2005. "Table 5.8: Petroleum Input and Output, 1949-2004" in Annual Energy Review 2004. http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/petro.html

Last post for today, I swear. Oh, and in case it wasn't clear before now based on the copyright at the bottom of this page, no it's not okay with me if you copy this data without permission.

Posted: Sat - February 25, 2006 at 07:39 PM          

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