America losing its thirst for gasoline

Problem lies in supply, not demand

Editor, The Times:

“America’s thirst for gasoline” is certainly dropping, but it is astonishing that The Times’ Dec. 21 article failed to mention the real reason [“America’s thirst for gasoline dropping over the long haul,” page one].

As geologists who study oil resources have long known, the problem is the supply of oil, not peaking demand. Simply put, world oil production is now maxed out. The United States hit peak oil in 1970 and now the world has caught up. When supply barely budges despite record demand, then prices skyrocket to dampen demand, as they did in 2008.

Even the International Energy Agency has now admitted that the supply of conventional oil peaked in 2006. Only unconventional oil — deep water, polar, heavy oil and tar sands, natural gas liquids — is keeping the overall world supply on a bumpy plateau, expected to go into permanent decline by 2015.

By 2030, the overall supply is expected to decline 20 percent to 40 percent regardless of the cost of a barrel of oil. This means that gas price rises will accelerate and driving will decrease dramatically no matter what the government fuel-economy standards.

The big unmentionable is that economic growth is also ending as a consequence of peak oil. This is leading toward the peaking of “net energy” from all sources, hence decline in conventional wealth. This means many fewer people who will be able to afford to own cars or to drive alone.

— Dick Burkhart, Seattle

Why hasn’t America embraced diesel like Europe?

In The Times’ Tuesday article on dropping demand for gasoline, it offers good news on our effort to stem the flow of foreign oil into the United States. But in this article, as in most others on the subject, there is seldom mention of diesel as an alternative to gasoline. Why is this?

The diesel engines of today are not the reviled diesel engines of the past. There is no comparison in performance. Why is it that approximately 40 percent of all new cars sold in Europe are diesel powered? How do you explain that Audi (four times) and Peugeot (once) won the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hour Endurance Races the last five years in a row with diesel engines?

As a previous owner of a gas-powered GMC Yukon SUV with a top mileage rating of 16-17 highway and 25 percent less in town, I decided to give diesel a try with a comparable-sized Mercedes GL 320 CDI. I have since been enjoying at least a 50 percent improvement in both city and highway driving mileage and cost per mile with performance at least equal to the Yukon.

Think what this would mean to oil imports if we were to switch new-car sales to 40 percent diesel. The impact would do far more than government-mandated mileage requirements for gasoline engines. Using the excuse that Americans are not interested is bogus. Lack of interest is a result of lack of education and promotion. Selling diesel power in cars should be an easy task. Test one out and you will see why.

— Frank Stull, Sammamish

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