Fuel economy

“ The Vehicle Fuel Economy Mandate specifies a national mandatory fuel economy standard of 35 miles per gallon by 2020, which will save billions of gallons of fuel and increase efficiency by 40 percent. ”

“ This law mandates that, as part of the Nation's efforts to achieve energy independence, the Secretary of Transportation prescribe annual fuel economy increases for automobiles, beginning with model year 2011, resulting in a combined fuel economy fleet average of at least 35 miles per gallon by model year 2020. ”

“ The fuel that is used will depend upon the type of furnace and the relative prices prevailing for different kinds. Recent developments in oil heating bring this fuel in close competition from the standpoint of economy with coal or coke. Oil is particularly adaptable as a source of fuel in homes in the country since tank trucks can readily deliver oil to the home owner. Improvements in securing the maximum efficiency from all types of fuel are being developed continually ”

“ It should not be forgotten that, in large engines fed with producer-gas, economy of consumption is a secondary consideration, because of the low quantity of fuel required. The cost, moreover, may well be sacrificed to that steadiness of operation which is of such great importance in large engines furnishing the power of factories; for in such engines sudden stops seriously affect the work to be performed. For this reason engine builders have been led to the construction of motors provided with very effective cooling apparatus. ”

“ In General— Section 32906 of title 49, United States Code, is amended to read as follows: `Sec. 32906. Maximum fuel economy increase for alternative fuel automobiles ` (a) In General- For each of model years 1993 through 2019 for each category of automobile (except an electric automobile) , the maximum increase in average fuel economy for a manufacturer attributable to dual fueled automobiles is— ` (1) 1.2 miles a gallon for each of model years 1993 through 2014; ` (2) 1.0 miles per gallon for model year 2015; ` (3) 0.8 miles per gallon for model year 2016 ”

“ As the calorific effect of petroleum is almost double that of coal, the engine is nearly as efficient as a steam-engine of large size, and much more so than one of the same power, while, on account of the cheapness of petroleum, the expense for fuel is no greater. The oil used can be obtained in comparatively small quantities at from six to seven cents a gallon, and at the latter price the cost of a horse-power per hour would be a little less than one and a quarter; cent, an expense considerably below the best results obtained in any of the engines using gas. ”

“ For illuminating purposes it is the cheapest form of artificial light; as a fuel it is supplanting coal, where the latter is dear or its cost of carriage high, as on ocean steamers. Finally, the construction of light and convenient gasoline motors has given it great importance as a source of motive power. Natural gas is closely related to petroleum, but the supply has been so reduced by rapid and reckless use that it has but a limited economic outlook and is of local significance only. ”

“ Whether on land or sea, fuel oil is preferred to coal because it requires fewer firemen, and back of that, in the man power required in its mining, preparation, and transportation the advantage on the side of oil is even greater. So, too, the substitute for gasoline in internal-combustion engines, whether alcohol or benzol, means higher cost and larger expenditure of labor in its production. ”

“ On the other hand, a system of pipes and pumps, and a limited quantity of skilled 278 labour to manage them, is all that is necessary for the transit and combustion of petroleum fuel; and it is certain that even in England will be found places which, from topographical and other circumstances, will use petroleum more economically than coal as fuel for manufacturing purposes under reasonable conditions of price for the fuel. ”

“ The oil men themselves should see the value of this and spend their money freely to keep their wells from being flooded, to keep their pipe lines from leaking, and to save their gas.
We are behind the rest of the world in the use of our oil for fuel purposes. We are spendthrifts in this as in other of our national resources. We can get three times as much energy as we do out of our oil through the use of the Diesel engine, yet we are doing little to promote development of a satisfactory type of stationary Diesel, or marine design. ”

“ What would you do right now to reduce the price of gasoline?
DODD: Well, what we've offered already, in fact, and that is, of course, we ought to be saying here that when the price of a barrel of oil gets beyond $40 a barrel, where there's plenty of profit here, that those dollars ought to be returned to the consumers in a rebate or plowed back into the research that would allow us to develop alternative technologies.
But the real way to get away from this here, our dependency on that kind of fuel is causing us serious problems across the board. ”

“ It greatly enlarges the range of fuel utilization because it can burn not only fuel gas and the lighter oils—gasoline, benzol, and their close kin—but also fuel alcohol, the supply of which though hitherto only slightly developed will last as long as the sun and rain make vegetation grow in the soil. Our future success in winning and holding an economic surplus upon which the opportunity for the good life and a world civilization depends, rests almost as largely upon the internal-combustion engine as the industrial revolution depended upon the steam engine of Newcomen and Watt. ”

“ First, we should ramp up the renewable fuel standard and create an alternative diesel standard in this country so that by 2025, 65 billion gallons of alternative fuels per year will be blended into the petroleum supply. ”

“ As petroleum is being used as a substitute for coal—and inasmuch as the whole problem of fuel supply is one—we are ultimately compelled to an investigation of the ability of our petroleum supply to meet its present drain and to meet the expansion in its use, which is the most surprising development of our day in the study of power creation. ”

“ When we consider, however, that the cost should only embrace attendance, fuel, wear and tear, and a little lime and soda for the purifiers, that the consumption of fuel is small, the wear and tear light, and that the raw material—air—is obtained for nothing, it ought to be possible to produce the gas for a third or fourth of this amount in most of our great manufacturing centers, where the price of fuel is but a third of that demanded in London, and where provision could be made for economizing the waste heat, which is entirely lost in the Westminster installation. ”

“ Notwithstanding this guarded announcement, it is evident that the discovery of natural gas has begun a revolution in fuel, which will have permanent and far-reaching economic and social consequences, whether the supply of gas is limited or inexhaustible. ”

“ In some cases the work done in a steam-engine by 2 tons of coal has been performed by 1 ton of oil fuel, but in others the proportions have been as 3 to 2, and these latter can be safely relied on in practice as a minimum. This saving, combined with the savings of labour and transit already explained, will in the near future make the use of liquid fuel compulsory, except in places so near to coal-fields that the cost of coal becomes sufficiently low to counterbalance the savings in weight of fuel consumed and in labour in handling it. ”

“ The most satisfactory of the liquid fuels for use in internal-combustion engines, are alcohol and the light refined hydro-carbon oils, such as gasoline. These fuels, however, are the most expensive in commercial use, even when consumed with the highest practical efficiency, which, it is thought, has already been attained, as far as present types of engines are concerned.
At present little is known as to how far many of the very cheap distillates and crude petroleums can be used as fuel for internal-combustion engines. It is difficult to use them at all, regardless of efficiency. ”

“ The chief difficulty under which they labour is, that they must consult, in their location, convenience in the supply of the raw material, and must therefore neglect what would in the abstract be the most important consideration, the supply of fuel. Thus, at least one of the puddling forges of which we have spoken, is compelled to use imported fuel, and none are situated where alone the nation could derive essential benefit from them, immediately over a rich bed of coal. ”

“ Petroleum products are also largely utilized in gas manufacture for, (1) the production of “air-gas,” (2) the manufacture of oil-gas, and (3) the enrichment of coal-gas. For heating purposes, the stoves employed are practically kerosene lamps of suitable construction, though gasoline is used as a domestic fuel in the United States. The use of petroleum as liquid fuel is dealt with under Fuel, as is the employment of its products in motors, which has greatly increased the demand for petroleum spirit. ”

“ Native coals in all probability will be sufficiently good to make gas of. One portion of the plant will be devoted to the dynamos and engines for furnishing the electric light. Where the coal gas benches now are will be boilers, or perhaps even these will be unnecessary if gas engines be used. If steam boilers be used, they will be fired with producer gas, and the holders will become simply pressure regulators. The revenues of gas companies will be increased fivefold, if not more; the consumer will get cheaper fuel, cheaper power, and cheaper light. ”

“ Where petroleum oil can be cheaply obtained, say for twopence per gallon, one of the Otto Cycle Oil Engines, for powers up to 20 indicated horse-power, can be advantageously employed.
These engines have the advantage of being a self-contained power, requiring neither chimney nor steam boiler, and may be said to be a waterless power. The objection is the necessity to rely upon oil as fuel, and the dangers attending the storage of oil. A good oil engine should not require to use more than a pint of refined petroleum per indicated horse-power working for one hour. ”

“ As the semi-Diesel type engine will operate successfully on the lowest grades of crude oils, with an efficiency that compares favorably with the true Diesel type, the operating expenses are very much lower than with the gas or gasoline engine. With the same fuels, the semi-Diesel will show greater net saving than the Diesel with a low load factor, as the fuel saving is not eaten up by the high first cost, and overhead charges of the true Diesel. ”

“ The great increase in the consumption of petroleum is ascribable partly to the more extensive use of it as a fuel, in substitution for coal, but mainly to the greater use of gasoline which is directly attributable to the automobile. ”

“ Of the other fuels available, petroleum takes the leading place, but we are hardly more economical in our use of this fuel and our oil supplies are diminishing much more rapidly than the stores of coal. ”

“ One of the great burdens of our Northern life, fire building and replenishing, disappears, house-keeping is simplified, the expense of servants reduced, cleanliness restored. Add to this that in the gas regions the cost of fuel is merely nominal, and in towns distant some thirty or forty miles it is not half that of coal. It is easy to see that this revolution in fuel will make as great a change in social life as in manufacturing, and that all the change may not be agreeable. ”

“ Although there is no immediate prospect of the failure of the coal and oil supplies, exhaustion is surely approaching. And as the supplies of fuel for the production of gas and electricity diminish, the cost of lighting may advance. The total amount of oil available in the known oil-fields of this country at the present time has been estimated by various experts between 5,000,000,000 and 20,000,000,000 barrels, the best estimate being about 7,000,000,000. The annual consumption is now about 400,000,000 barrels. ”

“ To meet our growing demand for gasoline, America now imports more than a million barrels of fully refined gasoline every day. That means about one of every nine gallons of gas you get in your pump is refined in a foreign country. To help secure our gasoline supply and lower prices at the pump, we need to encourage existing refineries like Yorktown to expand their capacity. ”

“ Petroleum engines are now gaining favour, as they are equal to gas engines in cleanliness and results, and need as little attention, and they can be used anywhere, as a supply of fuel is so easily attainable. The ordinary and common petroleum of commerce is the fuel used, and the various makers contend that these motors are more economical than gas engines, the cost of fuel varying from 3⁄4d. ”

“ The advantages which the coal trade must reap from the introduction of the gas-light must be very considerable. There is already less waste, but a greater consumption of coal than formerly. The lower classes of the community are scantily supplied with firing; and nothing but a reduction of [24] price is necessary to increase to a very large amount the average quantity of fuel consumed in the country. ”

“ There is a very wide difference in the cost of unloading, hauling away ashes and cinders, and getting my coal around to the kiln, or boilers, or drier, or wherever I use it, and I get very much better results by being able to put the heat from oil fuel just where I want it."
In order to secure the best results with any fuel it is not only necessary that a cheap fuel should be used, but that it should be always obtainable, and that all of it should be burned and turned to commercial account in the operations of brick manufacture. ”