Tire Gauges - This Election's Purple Band-Aid

The amount of stupidity which right wing nuts and Republicans in general display really amazes me sometimes to the point of wondering how some of these people survive day to day activities. The latest in a string of attacks on Barack Obama is the "Tire-Gauge Syndrome."

Recently Obama stated the following: "There are things you can do individually, though, to save energy. ... Making sure your tires are properly inflated - simple thing. But we could save all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling - if everybody was just inflating their tires? And getting regular tune-ups? You'd actually save just as much." - Aug. 1 speech in Springfield, Mo.

It seems simple enough. Proper tire inflation and a tuned up engine increases efficiency and therefore saves gas. Now the question remains, if everyone implemented proper maintenance of their cars and trucks - about 140 million of them in the US - how much oil could we theoretically save?

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, "every pound per square inch of tire underinflation wastes 4 million gallons of gas daily in the U.S." Survey information from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that 27% of the cars on the road have a significantly under-inflated tire.

...Using the website FuelEconomy.gov, Verrastro writes, we can estimate that "the maximum (estimated) fuel economy (i.e., mileage) savings drivers could expect as a result of keeping their engines properly tuned (4%), replacing air filters (up to 10%), properly inflating tires (up to 3%) and using the correct motor oil (1-2%) is 18-19%. Since American drivers use roughly 380 million gallons of gasoline (not including diesel) per day, an 18% improvement translates into a savings of 68 million gallons, or 1.62 million barrels of oil per day."

Current crude oil and condensate production in the [Outer Continental Shelf] is about 1.25 million barrels per day.

Now, of course you'd have to assume that not all cars on the road are improperly maintained. If, as the linked article suggests, we're only talking of about a quarter of cars on the road, "the production offset is more likely to approach 800 thousand barrels per day..." and according to the Energy Information Administration's Official Energy Statistics from the US Government, if Congress lifted the moratorium on offshore drilling, by 2030, oil crude production in the “lower-48″ outer continental shelf will increase by about 200,000 barrels per day.

Here's a little expanded information on those numbers from Time Magazine's Michael Grunwald:

The Bush Administration estimates that expanded offshore drilling could increase oil production by 200,000 bbl. per day by 2030. We use about 20 million bbl. per day, so that would meet about 1% of our demand two decades from now. Meanwhile, efficiency experts say that keeping tires inflated can improve gas mileage 3%, and regular maintenance can add another 4%. Many drivers already follow their advice, but if everyone did, we could immediately reduce demand several percentage points.

Of course, Mr. Straight Talk and the GOP shills would have you believe that this is crazy talk.

McCain: "Anybody who says that we can achieve energy independence without using and increasing these existing energy resources either doesn't have the experience to understand the challenge we face or isn't giving the American people some straight talk." - Aug. 4 in Lafayette, Pa.

But these blowhards fail to mention Obama's actual energy plan, instead going with the meme that the tire-gauge suggestion is the only thing Obama has in his pocket. They fail to mention providing short‐term relief to American families facing pain at the pump. They fail to mention helping create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future. They fail to mention proposals that within 10 years, will save more oil than we currently import from the Middle East and Venezuela combined. They fail to mention an initiative to put 1 million Plug‐In Hybrid cars – cars that can get up to 150 miles per gallon – on the road by 2015, cars that we will work to make sure are built here in America, including a $7,000 tax credit to help but those cars. They fail to mention ensuring 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025. They fail to mention implementing an economy‐wide cap‐and‐trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.

So who's really out of touch? All the rubes would have to do is read or even just listen to someone other than Limbaugh or Hannity to know what Obama's plan would entail. But why read the truth when you can close your eyes and be led like lambs to the slaughter?

Listen to this little tidbit of information: "...increasing the fuel efficiency of replacement tires for our cars to the same level as those sold on new automobiles will save drivers $90 in fuel costs over the lifetime of the tires and will save the U.S. more than 70 times the amount of oil we might find in the refuge." That was Joe Lieberman in 2001 arguing against drilling in ANWR, but I suppose everyone has his price.

And other Republicans like Charlie Crist and Arnold Schwarzenegger agree with Obama. What about NASCAR Nation? NASCAR told fans, “With escalating fuel prices, the time is now for drivers to focus on simple things like proper tire pressure to maximize tire performance and increase fuel economy.”

The saddest part in all of this is that ultimately, all you'll hear this week from the McCainstream Media will be about tire-gauges and the GOP using a false argument and that Obama doesn't know what he's talking about blah blah blah. Because, really, why should the public actually be informed when the Obama tire-gauge can be this election's purple band-aid?

Also read:

Jonathan Martin: McCain camp amps up tire gauge gag

Carla Marinucci: Tire gauge pumping up campaign rhetoric

Steve Benen: GOP won’t let go of its new tire-gauge toy