Conservation

Key Points

  • Domestic production increases has limited ability to meet our future demands, given dwindling reserves
  • Conservation is a cheaper way to provide future oil compared to new oil drilling technologies, developing new fields, or new alternative energy technologies
  • See "The Sensible Source", page 33 of Ref. 1 below for a "why" list of how conservation makes sense
  • Efficiency improvements could include a wide range of options, discussed below.
  • Automobile fuel efficiency standards
    • "A readily achievable increase in fuel economy standards to 40 miles per gallon (mpg) for new cars and 30 mpg for light trucks could save more than 20 billion barrels of oil by 2020 - more than six times the unproven resources the federal government predicts may lie within the Arctic Refuge." [1]
    • "A more aggressive, but still feasible standard of 60 mpg for new cars and 45 mpg for light trucks could save more than 30 billion barrels, or almost ten times the amount of speculative oil in the Refuge, by 2020." [1]
  • Increase mass-transit options for Americans
    • Revive passenger rail inter-city service
    • Increase urban and suburban rail and subway networks,
    • Increase bus, van-pooling, and car-pooling options for Americans
  • Work-week modifications
    • Mandate four-day workweek for government, state, and federal workers
    • Increase telecommute options
  • Focus on conservations efforts that also increase efficiency and productivity for American workers (eg, mass transit that allows commuting time to be used as work time
  • Improve energy efficiency of buildings
  • Improve energy efficiency of homes
  • Mandate 55-mph speed limits for safety and efficiency reasons
  • Provide incentives and infrastructure improvements for bicycling commuting and bicycle transportation
    • Lane-sharing on roadways for motorists and bicyclists
    • Increase development of multi-use paths
    • Safety and awareness education to motorists

Links

  1. Tracking Arctic Oil, report, http://www.trustees.org/Supporting%20Documents/Tracking%20Arctic%20Oil.pdf
Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License