An article in today's Washington Post explores the constant feedback that Prius drivers get about their fuel consumption -- and how that may be one of the main reasons that Prii* get lower gas mileage than other vehicles. I've noted this phenomenon before, so I thought I'd pass along a link to the article.

* "Prii" = plural of "Prius," at least in my world.

Labels: action, environmental, oil, prius, tech

Last week, my friend Michelle loaned me her copy of Farewell, My Subaru, a humorous account of a year spent trying to live locally. The author, Doug Fine, buys a ranch in New Mexico, then converts it to solar power and solar heated water, and raises goats and vegetables. And, yes, he trades in his Subaru for a R.O.A.T. (Ridiculously Oversized American Truck), which runs on vegetable oil. Along the way, he has lots of mishaps (many involving the goats) and finds love, happiness, and satisfaction. In general, he has a nice reflective time of it, accumulating enough experiences and insight to warrant a book. He's also got a great sense of humor. Recommended.

Labels: books, environmental, oil

On my drive out to Shenandoah National Park this weekend, I hit a new milestone with my Prius' fuel efficiency. It turned over 50.0 mpg: this is the running average since I bought the car, about 4000 miles worth of accumulated data. Then it ticked up to 50.1, and then I got to Sperryville and began driving up the Blue Ridge. Up, up, up the hill means fuel efficiency goes down, down, down. That's a steep hill. When I got up to Skyline Drive, it was down to 48.8 again. But then using the principles of hypermiling, I got it back up to 50.1 over the course of the drive back to DC.

Driving the Prius is like a game, where you're constantly challenging yourself to get more miles out of every gallon of gas. The dashboard display shows you your moment-to-moment fuel efficiency, and you can tailor your driving second by second to maximize your distance to gasoline ratio. It's a whole different experience as compared to driving a car without a dashboard readout, and I find myself much more mentally engaged in the driving process.

Anyhow, yesterday, after a jaunt into NOVA to do some work, I was driving up the Rock Creek Parkway, and it ticked over to 50.2. Ooh boy! Goody, goody, I thought to myself. I should take a photo of that and put it on my blog, where I brag about what a minimal petroleum consumer I am.

But, because this is springtime in DC, the display had a fine layer of pollen all over it. So I pulled out a paper towel to wipe away the pollen. The problem is, the pressure of the paper towel on the touch-sensitive screen activated the "RESET" button. Instantly, my hard-won 50.2 mpg disappeared, to be replaced with 0.0. Aargh!

While I appreciated knowing the overall fuel efficiency of the car, I'm now realizing the benefit of hitting RESET: Now my numbers aren't "bogged down" with my early days of inefficient Prius-driving technique. The new average will reflect what I'm actually driving, not my overall mpg legacy. I knew that I was driving more efficiently than 50.2, since the numbers kept going up over time, but I wasn't sure how much more efficiently. Now that I've reset the system, I can get a more accurate bead on my day-to-day fuel efficiency.

Since the reset, I've driven 18 miles, a slight majority of it uphill. The numbers look promising:

Labels: oil, prius

In an article in Newsweek, the hosts of NPR's "Car Talk" talk about the car of the future.

Turns out that the Tappet Brothers, one of whom doesn't even own a car (!), are lobbying Congress for increased automobile fuel efficiency. They're also starring in a new episode of the PBS series Nova. And they have some advice for you, the consumer: "Get a Prius."

FYI, since we're talking about it -- a quick update on my "Pious" seems in order. Its current fuel efficiency (running average since I bought the car in December) is:

Labels: action, climate change, global warming, oil, petroleum, prius, tech, tv

Three days ago, NPR aired a segment about how geology students can make lots of money.

Here's the description: All Things Considered, March 21, 2008. With the price of oil, gold and other metals at near record levels, these are heady times at the Colorado School of Mines. Employers are falling all over themselves to hire new graduates. Who'd have thought that being a geologist would make you so popular - and bring you $80,000 a year to start?

Labels: geologists, oil

Oil has hit $100/ barrel before, but it dropped back down to mere double-digits before the close of the market. Not so today: When the closing bell rang, "light sweet crude" was at $100.01. Blame Hugo Chavez, or blame Hubbert's Peak. It's some expensive stuff.

Labels: economics, oil, petroleum

A friend forwarded me a link to this interesting article in Mother Jones. After reading my discussion of Prius-induced fuel-conscious driving techniques on this blog, my friend recollected the Mother Jones profile subject, Wayne Gerdes, who gets 59 m.p.g. just by driving really, really consciously. He includes some maneuvers in his repertoire that are pretty dangerous, but the point is that he doesn't even need a hybrid to acheive these sorts of fuel efficiencies. Check it out.

Labels: oil, prius, products

An update on the Prius that I've been driving for 1.5 months. I've spun its wheels about 1300 miles now. It's getting a running average of about 47.5 miles out of each gallon of gasoline. For those who haven't seen one before, this is the fuel consumption display that is set in the middle of the dashboard:

One of the things that driving a Prius has taught me is that fuel efficiency varies a lot. On cold mornings, driving up my hill in DC, I'm getting like 7 miles per gallon. But then out on the highway on a flat stretch, going 65 mph, I get 100 miles per gallon. Huge disparity there. As much as having an innovative engine, I think some of my success with the (relatively) low gas mileage is learning how to maximize efficiency through my own driving habits. This little dashboard display is constantly telling me whether I'm getting as much as I can be out of my gasoline, and I can adjust my pedal position or coasting strategy accordingly. It's more brainwork than driving my old Corolla used to be, but it's also kind of engaging to be thinking about. Anyhow, it's still giving me good gas mileage and a lot of positive vibes.

Also: another geo-blogger, Jim Repka, wrote about his Prius in a recent post.

Labels: oil, prius

We've been expecting this for a while, but now it's finally happened. Happy new year, everybody: oil costs a hundred dollars a barrel!

Oil prices have quadrupled since 2003, for multiple reasons. At its simplest, though, it's Day One in Economics 101: there's less of a supply (that's what non-renewable resource means) and there's more of a demand (especially due to nascent industrialization in China and India). Everybody wants more of what there is less & less of -- so we pay more for it.

Coverage: New York Times, Fox News, CNN, & Washington Post.

Labels: economics, oil, petroleum