i think it's fair to say that in the past year we've seen more fluctuation in gas prices than ever before. but i think it's interesting that while we all seem to grumble about how much it costs, few of us really know what percentage of our income we spend on gasoline.
its for this reason that i decided to keep track of my gas usage. as many of you may know, i keep my receipts after filling up at the pump. the united states government has a website for people like me. it's called www.fueleconomy.gov. it lets me put in the details from my gas receipts and graphs my gas mileage. i decided to take these numbers a bit further so i pulled out the calculator and crunched some numbers. here's what i found:
1998 subaru legacy outback
2.5 litre engine
gas tank capacity: ~15 gallons
average miles per gallon: 22.23
average miles driven per year for the life of the car: 13,506
miles driven in the past year: 9,533
number of fill-ups in past year: 41
average cost per fill-up: $27.93
average miles driven per day: 26.1
average gasoline cost per mile: $0.12
average cost for gas per day: $3.12
most expensive fill-up: $53.04
best mpg per tank: 30.1
worst mpg per tank: 13.1
highest price i paid for gasoline: $4.20/gal
lowest price i paid for gasoline: $1.36/gal
total spent for gas in the past year: $1144.94
i don't know about anybody else, but i'm pretty blown away by that number. especially so because i didn't use my car to get to work. i can't imagine how much people that commute an hour each way must spend over the course of a year (or even scarier... a lifetime). it must be ridiculous. it brings up a good point as well. those people might be able to afford it, but is it fair that they're using up more than their fair share of the worlds non-renewable resources? maybe i'm outta line but it seems that there should be some type of compensation for those who choose to conserve.
so, what can i do to conserve more next next year? i'll start by trying to work near my home (or live near my work). i will be happy if i can find a job that lets me commute using public transit or bicycle. in addition, i'll try to ride my motorcycle or bike when i can to avoid driving my car.
the bottom line for me is that knowing how much i spend should help me better budget my gas usage in the future. I also want to point out that it wasn't difficult at all to track. i just print a receipt every time i fill up (best if you fill up all the way) and write down my odometer reading on each one. i stash the receipts in my console and every few months i log onto the site and enter in the info. i hope i can inspire others to give it a try.
6 comments:
I think the compensation for those choosing to conserve is the money savings from not buying the gas.
Not to mention the time they save by not spending all that time in the car to and from work. (and the associated stress)
If you have Wells Fargo they have a thing called "My Spending Report". They have a category for "Auto/Gas". As long as you use your debit card all the time, it tracks all that stuff for you. It is actually interesting to see where your money goes. (You just have to be careful that if you buy mtn dew at the gas station, it shows up in Auto/Gas)
don't forget that there are other ways to reduce you usage such as "buying local". Don't buy food products which are not grown locally or "out of season" (how much is spent in petroleum products to make apples from New Zealand available to you in the summer months in Portland?)
i've also cut back on ordering things on-line which are available locally... i can buy a cd for a few bucks less online than i can at the local record shop, plus have the added convenience of having delivered to my front door... but what's the real cost on the environment (not to mention my green karma acccount???) why have something delivered from across the country to my front door for the convenience when i can walk to the store and buy something that's already been delivered? yes, it costs a few bucks more and yes it's more inconvenient but just how greedy/lazy do i have to be?
Those are great points about buying locally. Although the CD example has got me thinking.
I'm guessing the CDs aren't manufactured in the record stores so they likely have already been shipped across the world/country/region/state once. The record store owners (or somebody in the music industry) takes a risk to pay for the shipping to get the CDs in that store based on the assumption that they will sell. Its probably a minimal cost per CD but if you multiply that by 10,000 or so (or how many CDs a record store has on it's shelves) then this risk adds up. This aspect will always equal a negative while there's inventory or up until the record store sells every last CD off the shelf.
Maybe the best option (in the case of a CD at least) is to buy directly from the label online. That way the product ONLY ships if and when it is actually bought. Maybe this is an extreme example but it's at least something to think about in the way that online shopping (albeit only from the source) can actually reduce trucking/gas usage/cost to the end user.
Thoughts?
Doesn't buy one cd (or any item for that matter)at a time and having it shipped directly to the buyer create more consumption? If a local retailer purchases 20 units from a source, those 20 units are shipped all at one time. If 20 individuals local to the same area as the retailer each purchase one unit from the source, that's 20 individual trips to the same general locale. It takes as much fuel to to ship one unit as it does to ship 20 (ok, that's a clear generalization... if we're talking large items, then i'm sure it costs more in fuel to ship 20 versus one but it will always be cheaper to some degree).
as for the risk and costs to local retails to have to stock product, i'm not sure how to deal with that. it's one of those issues that has to be re-thought in terms of energy conservation. How does a local retailer compete with the Internet? the default paradigm no longer works in the current world environment.
Strawberry juice box!
i want a cool rider, a cool rider. And if he's cool enough he can burn metal through and through, whoa whoa. If takes forever, then i'll wait forever. no ordinary guy, no ordinary guy is gonna do, i want a rider that's cool.
I don't want no ordinary guy comin on strong to me. they don't know what i'm lookin for they don't know what i need. they're gonna know it when he gets here cause the ground will be shakin.
i'd do anything to let him know that i'm his, his for the takin.
that song has been in my head since the other day. weird that i have it memorized, i know. it's just so cool. especially when your 10 years old and you have a major crush on the cool rider. he is so hot, plus he is from austrailia. Micheal and Stephanie togehter forever.
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