[Rabbit]

Most of us here on the board have made changes in their energy usage. I was thinking how much would we have to change in order to stop importing oil as a country. So I did some searching to try and come up with an approximate number.

The idea is to take the total USA production and see how much each person would get without importing any oil.

According to EIA, the last production month was 154,266,000 barrels of oil. Assuming you get 19.5 gallons of gas from a 42 gallon barrel of oil. The other 22 gallons of oil go toward other required petroleum products. That gives the USA 3,008,187,000 gallons of gas per month. The current US population is 303,299,000.

Divide the total US production by the total population and that comes to 9.9 gallons of gas, per person, per month.

Ok is is a bit simplistic but it does bring things in to perspective. My family of 3 (wife, myself and a son) should not be using more than 29.7 gallons of gas per month.

Any thoughts on what it would take to get people to reduce their usage to these levels without loss of life?

Should usage above this amount be sold to consumers at a higher rate similar to lifeline rates for natural gas and electricity?

For me this is now a personal goal. I will be working to get my fuel usage down to this level each month.

[Micki]

You should check out the discussion here:Transitioning from oil
Look at the chart and see what portion of petroleum consumption is for residential use VS industrial and transportation.
Your calculation seems based on just residential use when infact that is a smaller part of the total consumption.

[WisJim]

We try to be a model for friends and neighbors. We installed our first wind generator in 1977, and put in PV panels in the mid-1980s. We started using compact flourescents when they were still very expensive, and built a super-insulated home back in the 1970s, that used very minimal energy for heat. We now live in a remodeled 100 year old farmhouse that becomes more comfortable and easier and cheaper to heat every year because of major and minor remodeling and efficiency improvements that we have made. We have participated in the National Solar Tour the last three years on the first weekend of October, and get more visitors each year (over 70 this year). Our cars have been chosen partly for low initial cost and mainly for fuel efficiency--we have a Chevy/Geo Metro that gets 38 to 43mpg in town, depending on the time of year, and 48 to 55mpg on the highway with 2 or 3 adults in it. We ride bicycles, small motorcycles, and an electric bike when appropriate, and we grow as much of our food as we are able. The entire family, including my grown sons who are out of the house, have an awareness of what can be done on an individual basis.

You can do a lot by talking one-on-one about energy efficiency and what our country's use of energy means to our future. I think we need to change the attitude of lots of individuals, though, to have any effect on government or big business and their policies.

[aahala]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Rabbit', '
')Any thoughts on what it would take to get people to reduce their usage to these levels without loss of life?

[dooberheim]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('WisJim', 'W')e try to be a model for friends and neighbors. We installed our first wind generator in 1977, and put in PV panels in the mid-1980s. We started using compact flourescents when they were still very expensive, and built a super-insulated home back in the 1970s, that used very minimal energy for heat. We now live in a remodeled 100 year old farmhouse that becomes more comfortable and easier and cheaper to heat every year because of major and minor remodeling and efficiency improvements that we have made. We have participated in the National Solar Tour the last three years on the first weekend of October, and get more visitors each year (over 70 this year). Our cars have been chosen partly for low initial cost and mainly for fuel efficiency--we have a Chevy/Geo Metro that gets 38 to 43mpg in town, depending on the time of year, and 48 to 55mpg on the highway with 2 or 3 adults in it. We ride bicycles, small motorcycles, and an electric bike when appropriate, and we grow as much of our food as we are able. The entire family, including my grown sons who are out of the house, have an awareness of what can be done on an individual basis.

You can do a lot by talking one-on-one about energy efficiency and what our country's use of energy means to our future. I think we need to change the attitude of lots of individuals, though, to have any effect on government or big business and their policies.