Archive for the ‘Gasoline’ Category

Sometimes you just can't make this stuff up.

We've often dreamed about having a flamethrower on our car--you know, getting all Mad Max when you're ahead of us driving 15 mph slower than the speed limit while you're texting or something--but we never dreamed it was actually possible.

To the rescue comes Autoloc, part of Hoffman Group International. Sadly, they've made two minor alterations to our fantasy: First, their flamethrower is actually for the rear of the car, and second, they're very, very clear that it's "For Off-Road Use Only!"

That means in open areas, at auto events, only when people have been cleared from the area, and never,...

It's no secret that the price of oil--and subsequently, gasoline--has a profound effect on the types of vehicles consumers want. When per-barrel prices hit $145 last summer and gas was over $4 per gallon, folks finally paid attention to all those minicars they'd been hearing about. Now that oil is less than half that, SUVs are on everyone's mind. In light of such volatility, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is looking to stabilize things by limiting speculative trading in oil and other energy commodities. It won't make everyone happy, but until elected officials get on the gas tax bandwagon, it may be the best we get. [NYTimes]

With the record-breaking spikes in gas prices last summer, followed by the economic downturn, it's not surprising that people aren't driving as much.

A new report from the Seattle-based Sightline Institute verifies that per capita gasoline use is falling nationally, but focuses on how and why that the downward trend is most remarkable in Northwest states (Washington, Oregon, and Idaho). In the Northwest, the amount of gasoline used per person in 2008 was at its lowest level since 1965, with the biggest drop in total gasoline consumption since 1980.

Some of undoubtedly is due to increased unemployment and the loss of commuter miles traveled,...