GM says Chevy Volt will get an electrifying 230 mpg in city

General Motors officials promised Tuesday that their new plug-in hybrid, the Chevy Volt, will get 230 mpg of gas in the city, according to the New York Times.

"That would give the Volt, which is expected to arrive in showrooms late next year, by far the highest fuel efficiency rating of any car now rated by the Environmental Protection Agency," notes the Los Angeles Times. "The current EPA mileage leader is the Toyota Prius hybrid, which is rated at 50 mpg in combined city-highway driving."

The Volt is supposed to go 40 miles on one battery charge before needing to switch over to burning gasoline -- so in city driving a Volt owner would seldom if ever need to burn any gas.

Of course, Nissan last week unveiled its own electric car, the Leaf, which it promises will get more than 300 mpg.

[Chevy Volt]

Craig Pittman, Times Staff Writer

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Time to limit energy speculators, says top commodities regulator

The country’s top regulator of commodity markets said Tuesday that the government should “seriously consider” strict limits on the trading of purely financial investors in the futures markets for oil, natural gas and other energy products, the New York Times is reporting.

Presiding over the first of three hearings on the subject, Gary Gensler, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, was "clearly sympathetic" to complaints that speculators "have aggravated the violent swings in energy prices in recent years," the Times reported.

That's a big turnaround for the CFTC. As the Fueling Station noted last fall: "Previously the CFTC had pooh-poohed complaints that such speculation might be driving up the cost of gas. But now the CFTC figures that speculators like Vitol account for about 81 percent of the oil contracts on NYMEX, a far bigger share than had previously been stated by the agency."

Craig Donohue, CEO of the world's largest commodity trader, CME Group, argued against tighter regulation, contending that "speculators have been wrongly targeted in the debate over energy prices," the Wall Street Journal reports. Nevertheless, he said, CME would agree to make changes: "We are prepared to respond to those concerns by adopting a hard limit regime for those products, including single-month and all-months combined limits in addition to the current limits that apply during the last three trading days of the expiration month."

[AP photo: Gary Gensler]

--Craig Pittman

South Fla. drivers to test alternate to gas tax, based on actual use of roads

South Florida has been chosen as a test site for a new way to collect the federal gas tax that pays for building roads, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Right now you pay the tax when you fuel up your car. Under the new system, "you would get a bill every month based on how much you use the roads."

How would they do it? Simple: the government would track how much you drive.

"The University of Iowa is looking for 250 volunteers willing to have tracking devices similar to cell phones and SunPass transponders installed in their cars so researchers can record their mileage for the next 10 months," the Sun-Sentinel reports. "The study won't track individual routes. For their trouble, participants will get $895."

Why change a tax that hasn't changed since 1993? Because higher gas prices has led to a new emphasis on fuel-efficiency and driving less.

As people use less gas, gas tax revenues have declined to the point where the federal highway fund is expected to run $8 billion short by August. So a federal transportation commission has recommended raising the tax temporarily, but also switching to a tax on the number of miles driven.

A mileage tax is fairer and more stable than a gas tax, contend its advocates -- but there are privacy issues to deal with, too, with putting a government monitoring device into people's cars.

The Iowa researchers are launching the $16.5-million study today at Florida International University in Miami. Drivers also are taking part in Chicago, Albuquerque, N.M., Portland, Maine, Wichita, Kan., and Billings, Montana, the Sun-Sentinel says.

[AP photo]

--Craig Pittman

Florida reaches record settlement on gas-price gouging after Hurricane Ike

Last year Florida officials got more than 3,000 complaints about price-gouging on gasoline when prices shot up by $1.60 a gallon overnight in the wake of Hurricane Ike. The state's top law enforcement and consumer protection officials subpoenaed distribution records, looking for evidence.

Apparently they found it. The Associated Press is reporting that Attorney General Bill McCollum and Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson say they've reached a nearly $2.3 million settlement with a major gasoline supplier over price hikes while Hurricane Ike threatened the state.

"The settlement is the largest ever paid under the state’s price-gouging law and may be the nation’ largest price-gouging settlement obtained to date," Bronson's agency announced in a news release.

How did the gouging work?  "Investigators for the two offices determined that for the most part, retailers were simply passing on price increases that they were forced to pay by their suppliers," notes Bronson's news release. 

"As a result of that finding, Commissioner Bronson subpoenaed records of the 16 largest oil terminal operations in Florida... and Attorney General McCollum jointly subpoenaed TransMontaigne and others seeking gasoline sales information to determine whether the price increases were legally justified."

The settlement involved Morgan Stanley, which is a wholesaler of motor fuel in Florida, and TransMontaigne, which provides marketing, storage and transportation services for Morgan Stanley’s gasoline.

[AP photo]

--Craig Pittman

Higher gas prices = less driving = less money for highway repairs = tax on DRIVING?

File this under the Law of Unintended Consequences: Higher gas prices prompted a lot of people to cut back on how much they were driving. That cut back the amount of gas they were buying.

So now the Associated Press is reporting that, for the second year in a row, the federal tax on gasoline has failed to bring in the amount that was expected.

As a result, says Reuters, "the fund that supports U.S. highway repairs and construction is set to run out of money before August." The tax has been a reliable source of money for federal highway funds since the Interstate Highway System was created in the 1950s -- but not anymore.

"A decline in driving that began in late 2007 has reduced federal gas tax revenue, the primary source of trust fund dollars," the AP says. Thus, says Reuters, "last summer, the U.S. government had to pump in emergency cash to prevent the fund from being emptied." 

Democrats in Congress are talking about again pouring millions more dollars into the fund to keep it solvent, while their Republican counterparts are talking about the need to raise the tax, which has been set at 18.4 cents a gallon since the early '90s. However, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood -- a Republican -- says the Obama Administration would oppose any such gas tax increase.

A congressional commission recommended earlier this year that the tax be increased 10 cents per gallon for gas and 15 cents per gallon for diesel, and that both be indexed to inflation -- and that the highway fund stop relying on it so heavily.

Instead, the AP notes, it recommended taxing drivers "based on how many miles they drive. That would require equipping cars and trucks with devices that use GPS technology to record not only how many miles the vehicle was driven, but whether the driving occurred on interstate highways or secondary roads and whether it was during peak travel periods. The device would calculate the amount of tax owed and the bill could be downloaded."

[Associated Press]

Craig Pittman, Times Staff Writer

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Lawn care to be more "green" this summer, as consumers turn from gas-powered tools

Next to the smoke from an outdoor cookout and the scent of sunscreen on the beach, the most distinctive smell of summer comes from a freshly cut lawn. But this summer, says the Wall Street Journal, will be different.

This is "shaping up to be the summer of the 'alternative energy' outdoor power tools," the Journal reports. "From battery mowers and garden cultivators to a new propane-propelled string trimmer, manufacturers and retailers are rolling out consumer machines that run on gas substitutes and boast lower emissions and fewer maintenance headaches."

The Journal piece, quoting a Home Depot exec, notes two factors driving the change: the greening of America and lingering caution about rising gas prices. And there could soon be an additional incentive.

"This market may get more heated thanks to newly proposed legislation that would offer consumers a 25% tax credit up to $1,000 toward the purchase of environmentally friendly lawn, garden or forestry power equipment," the Journal reports.

[Image: Neuton battery-powered mower, courtesy Neuton]

--Craig Pittman

AAA: Expect gas prices to drop this week

Look for gas prices to start heading downward this week, predicts AAA. Since New Year’s Day, oil prices have dropped, but gas prices climbed 20 cents a gallon nationwide, and 15 cents in Florida. That "disconnect" will end this week, according to AAA’s weekly report.

"It’s rare when retail gasoline prices are not moving in the same direction as crude oil prices; given current supply and demand, they should both be decreasing," said Gregg Laskoski, spokesman for AAA. "We should expect to see retail gasoline prices decline this week, barring any major disruptions to the oil infrastructure."

The price of a gallon of regular in the Tampa Bay area fell overnight to $1.779 from $1.78. That’s higher than the month-ago price of $1.65, but a much better bargain than last year’s price at this time: $3.10 a gallon.

Asjylyn Loder, Times Staff Writer

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Falling oil prices and the impact on renewable energy policy

Plunging oil prices have stilled the hand wringing over energy security. With all eyes on the economy, veterans of past oil shocks may wonder if Americans will once again forget about weening the nation off suddenly cheap oil.
This time, though, looks different, Asjylyn Loder writes in The St Petersburg Times in an article titled 'Is Obama's energy policy a cure for oil addiction?'
Nearly 30 states, including Florida, are forging plans to boost renewable energy and slash greenhouse gases. Business leaders nationwide have called for a clear, nationwide policy. A political consensus has emerged in Washington that something must be done.
"We go from shock to trance," President-elect Barack Obama said in an interview with 60 Minutes that aired last Sunday night. "… Prices go back down, and suddenly we act like it's not important, and we start, you know, filling up our SUVs again. And, as a consequence, we never make any progress. It's part of the addiction, all right. That has to be broken. Now is the time to break it."

Read more ......

Cheap(er) gas: don't get too used to it. Prices expected to rise again in 2009

We've all been enjoying cheaper gas prices lately, and world oil prices look as though they could keep falling for a while, perhaps as low as $40 a barrel. But don't expect it to last long. It's likely to return to the $100 level by early next year, experts say. That means gas prices back up over $3 a gallon.

Oil has dropped more than 60 percent from July's record $147.27 a barrel, but it is expected to start rising again soon as markets adjust to falling consumer demand and reduced production.
Barclays Capital recently issued estimates that oil would return to the $90-100 per barrel range by the first quarter of 2009, and would end the year at $118. It's forecast for 2010 is $126, rising to $137 by 2015.

The main issues Barclays identified was falling production in non-OPEC member countries, especially in Mexico and the North SEA (UK and Norway). Hoped for new production in Canada and Brazil would take longer than expected to come on stream.

"We cannot detect any significant signal in the current supply landscape suggesting we are about to turn the corner and stop the bleed down of non-OPEC supplies, and our projections for non-OPEC output over the next 15 months continue to point to a flat to falling growth profile," Barclays concluded.

Obama's top priority: energy -- to stop warming and to fix economy

Everybody's talking about what President-elect Barack Obama is going to do when he takes office in January -- fix the economy, deal with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, etc.

Obama himself, during the second debate, told everyone what his top priority would be: energy.

When moderator Tom Brokaw asked the candidates to rate their priorities, Obama listed energy first: "Energy we have to deal with today, because you’re paying $3.80 here in Nashville for gasoline. . . . And it’s a strain on your family budget, but it’s also bad for our national security, because countries like Russia and Venezuela and, you know, in some cases, countries like Iran, are benefiting from higher oil prices."

He and John McCain both agreed that  clean energy is the key not only to combating climate change, but also to getting the stumbling economy on its feet and moving again. During the campaign -- and in particular in a speech in Lansing, Mich. (see clip below) -- Obama outlined an energy plan that included:

* $150-billion in public investment to accelerate clean energy such as electric cars, clean coal, renewable fuels and upgrading the nation’s electricity grid. This initiative would result in 5-million new jobs, Obama said.

* Allows expansion of offshore drilling, but only as part of comprehensive energy legislation. Nuclear power also should be part of the domestic energy supply, but he opposes the Yucca Mountain project to store nuclear waste.

* Launching a national a cap-and-trade mechanism to cut greenhouse gases 80 percent by 2050.

* Put 1-million plug-In hybrid cars -- cars that can get up to 150 mpg -- on the road by 2015.

* Ensure that 10 percent of all electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.

Craig Pittman, Times Staff Writer

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