Gas Price!

I saw gas this afternoon for $1.88! I haven't seen that in an awfully long time. Then I stumbled across this article on CNN.com about why gas prices skyrocket at a mere oil sneeze, but take their sweet time coming back down. I've always wondered why it happened that way, and of course it quite simply boils down to ... because it can.

New Mileage Label

The EPA announced today that they have ...dun duh dun... issued a new label for fuel economy display in 2008 model year vehicles. The one on the left is the old one, with the new one on the right. As far as I can tell, they contain almost exactly the same amount of information. I'd bet it took a couple thousand man-hours to come up with this new label. The EPA is an incredibly bureaucratic monstrosity full of inefficiencies and waste - just not the types they regulate - unfortunately. I digress.

I have owned some fuel inefficient vehicles - the most of which was my beloved 1986 K5 Blazer with a rebuilt 350, separate exhaust, and no catalytic converters (bought it that way). I think I got 12 mpg on a good day. When someone buys a vehicle like that, of course they don't care what the mileage is. I didn't care when I was in college and gas was $0.99. I just needed something to go 4-wheelin' and to hold both kayaks and my mountain bike on top. I don't want to know what my mileage was with all that up there!

Of course now I care, and our two vehicles get pretty darn good mileage. If you're shopping, I encourage you to consider mileage. A good place to start might be EPA's Green Vehicle Guide, or just click this post title.

Criticism aside, the EPA claims that it's new mileage analysis methods are more accurate starting with the 2008 models (concurrent with new sticker). I hope that's true. Our dependence on oil, and the painful drain on our wallets, needs to decrease.