[yesplease]

Small enough vehicles w/ large enough engines can occasionally see worse mileage at lower loads/speeds, but even for those the mileage tends to flat line or increase at a much lower rate compared to the drop in speed most of the time. Depends on the vehicle, so YMMV.

[pup55]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')enator John Warner (R-VA) - elected in 1978 - recently expressed interest in the idea of a national speed limit to conserve gasoline. Warner, who is not running for re-election this year, wrote to U.S. Secretary of Energy Sam Bodman, asking "at what speed is the typical vehicle traveling on America's highways today most fuel efficient?"

[Peleg]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pup55', '
')Now the fun begins. A whole conversation about why it is better to send our kids over to Iraq to protect our oil supply, rather than slow down a little on the drive home.

[smallpoxgirl]

I'm pretty convinced that the only thing that will motivate conservation is high prices. If you try to dictate conservation measures, then the fuel will just get wasted elsewhere. If we really wanted to cause conservation, we'd impose a 50 dollar a barrel import tariff with the proceeds going to fill the SPR. $6 a gallon diesel will create conservation in the trucking industry far better than a 55 mph limit will.

[Peleg]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('smallpoxgirl', 'I')'m pretty convinced that the only thing that will motivate conservation is high prices. If you try to dictate conservation measures, then the fuel will just get wasted elsewhere. If we really wanted to cause conservation, we'd impose a 50 dollar a barrel import tariff with the proceeds going to fill the SPR. $6 a gallon diesel will create conservation in the trucking industry far better than a 55 mph limit will.

[smallpoxgirl]

Yeah. The recent strikes in Spain struck me as being a great example of the sorts of conservation that high prices can achieve. You can't afford to catch fish because of the price of fuel? Congratulations. You have just been discovered to be an inefficient user of fossil fuels. Please park your boat and find another job. OTOH, trying to regulate it through speed limits would just mean more fuel available to be wasted on inefficient fishing fleets.

The disadvantage of relying on scarcity to raise prices instead of using taxes to do it is A: It allows you no buffer to prepare for the crisis before it happens and B: All the money being extracted from the economy is going to OPEC instead of being used internally for preparation.

[Peleg]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('smallpoxgirl', '
')The disadvantage of relying on scarcity to raise prices instead of using taxes to do it is A: It allows you no buffer to prepare for the crisis before it happens and B: All the money being extracted from the economy is going to OPEC instead of being used internally for preparation.

[Ghog]

Why not limit cars top speed to 65mph with a governor if they really wanted people to slow down and conserve fuel?

Wouldn't it be easier to gear transmissions for economy at consistently lower speeds as opposed to cars and even SUVs that can go 100, 120 or even higher mph? Why present a speed limit that can be broken when you have the technology to guarantee compliance (short of tampering).

This is just a thought as I really don't believe a speed-limit reduction is anything other than Political screen to make it look like some are doing more than they are. We are certainly wasting energy in many areas of society and making people pay the more they drive, pollute, etc would help. I'm all for a higher gas tax if I could be sure it was being spent wisely and not just lining someone's pockets. I don't have any faith in that however.

[Peleg]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ghog', 'W')hy not limit cars top speed to 65mph with a governor if they really wanted people to slow down and conserve fuel?

Wouldn't it be easier to gear transmissions for economy at consistently lower speeds as opposed to cars and even SUVs that can go 100, 120 or even higher mph? Why present a speed limit that can be broken when you have the technology to guarantee compliance (short of tampering).

This is just a thought as I really don't believe a speed-limit reduction is anything other than Political screen to make it look like some are doing more than they are. We are certainly wasting energy in many areas of society and making people pay the more they drive, pollute, etc would help. I'm all for a higher gas tax if I could be sure it was being spent wisely and not just lining someone's pockets. I don't have any faith in that however.

[cube]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pup55', '.')..
If we were really serious about reducing our fossil fuel use, this would still be in place from the 80's., when Reagan repealed it.
...

[vilemerchant]

This is absolutely clueless. It was effective in the 70s because cars back then didn't have an OVERDRIVE gear. Nowadays modern 4 speed, 5-speed or even 6-speed automatics have massively overdriven top gears for very low rpm cruising at highway speeds.

What this means lowering the speed a modern car by 10mph or whatever is going to have a miniscule effect compared to the benefit it provided in the 70s in those big old un-aerodynamically shaped cars with no overdrive gears that revved their asses off on the highway.

[doodlebug2]

Where I drive (VA) like other places I have been, nobody goes the speed limit. Even where it is 55, everyone (but me) goes 65-85. So what is the big deal with this, it won't be enforced. Plus as others have said, the price will go down and the cycle will continue.

[Arsenal]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vilemerchant', 'T')his is absolutely clueless. It was effective in the 70s because cars back then didn't have an OVERDRIVE gear. Nowadays modern 4 speed, 5-speed or even 6-speed automatics have massively overdriven top gears for very low rpm cruising at highway speeds.

What this means lowering the speed a modern car by 10mph or whatever is going to have a minuscule effect compared to the benefit it provided in the 70s in those big old un-aerodynamically shaped cars with no overdrive gears that revved their asses off on the highway.

[Peleg]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Arsenal', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vilemerchant', 'T')his is absolutely clueless. It was effective in the 70s because cars back then didn't have an OVERDRIVE gear. Nowadays modern 4 speed, 5-speed or even 6-speed automatics have massively overdriven top gears for very low rpm cruising at highway speeds.

What this means lowering the speed a modern car by 10mph or whatever is going to have a minuscule effect compared to the benefit it provided in the 70s in those big old un-aerodynamically shaped cars with no overdrive gears that revved their asses off on the highway.

[Arsenal]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Peleg', '
')It's not worth it if you make $30-$50 per hour and every hour you ar enot in the office is one less you spend with clients and building your cred within your profession. over the course of a year that is over 250 hours, more than ten days worth of lost time. I'm not making a personal statement there, just pointing out that it is the poor for whom this thing means a meal or two per week, the upper middle class is only concerned because of how it affects the broader economy and therefore their investments. They have plenty of expendable income to weather $10 per gallon.

[Peleg]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Arsenal', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Peleg', '
')It's not worth it if you make $30-$50 per hour and every hour you ar enot in the office is one less you spend with clients and building your cred within your profession. over the course of a year that is over 250 hours, more than ten days worth of lost time. I'm not making a personal statement there, just pointing out that it is the poor for whom this thing means a meal or two per week, the upper middle class is only concerned because of how it affects the broader economy and therefore their investments. They have plenty of expendable income to weather $10 per gallon.

[Ghog]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Arsenal', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vilemerchant', 'T')his is absolutely clueless. It was effective in the 70s because cars back then didn't have an OVERDRIVE gear. Nowadays modern 4 speed, 5-speed or even 6-speed automatics have massively overdriven top gears for very low rpm cruising at highway speeds.

What this means lowering the speed a modern car by 10mph or whatever is going to have a minuscule effect compared to the benefit it provided in the 70s in those big old un-aerodynamically shaped cars with no overdrive gears that revved their asses off on the highway.

[Arsenal]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Peleg', '
')Actually I drive 5 over just about everywhere but I have found myself actually doing 25 mph in a 25 mph zone lately. My point is that it is a paradox. Driving slower saves each person who does it money and gas, add them up and well it must save the economy money and gas right? The only thing is the rate of delivery is slower and demand is widgets/day or some time rate of change. So, supply is cinched unless you get more trucks on the road. It's a wierd conservation argument.

tons/truck*#trucks/hour = tons/hour

tons/truck is probably replaceable with the mean tonnage which is relatively constant.

#trucks/hour making deliveries is a function of how many trucks you have on the road and how fast they drive and how far they drive. Price is basically tons per hour sensitive (locally), and demand could be harmed in some places if tons/hour is not increased by some growth constant per year.

The equations are simple arithmetic where you just substitute the mean for each factor. Simply put there are consequences to reducing the speed limit when we talk about supply per unit time and therefore price.

[KevO]

Once Obama is in proper, I think one of the first things he will do is introduce a 50/55mph national speed limit with 25 max in towns. I think he'll also tax the SUV off the roads and I think the UK will quickly follow suit to 55mph. Spain has already done so. It has to be.
http://www.oilempire.us/55mph.html

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/07 ... 2-cuts.php

MAIN LINK

[EnergyUnlimited]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('KevO', 'O')nce Obama is in proper, I think one of the first things he will do is introduce a 50/55mph national speed limit with 25 max in towns. I think he'll also tax the SUV off the roads and I think the UK will quickly follow suit to 55mph. Spain has already done so. It has to be.
http://www.oilempire.us/55mph.html
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/07 ... 2-cuts.php
MAIN LINK