 America is spending more than $1 billion a day on imported oil – wreaking havoc on the economy and driving up the price of everything from gasoline to groceries. On the other hand, ethanol is saving Americans 15 percent or more at the pump. Ethanol adds billions of gallons of cleaner burning, renewable fuel to our nation’s total fuel supply – putting downward pressure on prices.
Fact: At $4 per gallon, consumers will save at least $12 on 20 gallons of gas because of ethanol.
Source: Merrill Lynch
ETHANOL'S MODERATING EFFECT ON GAS PRICES
- For consumers, ethanol is holding down the price of gasoline by 29 to 40 cents per gallon, saving the average family who uses 1,000 gallons of gasoline $500 per year. The savings for the consumer would be more if blenders passed on their savings to gas retailers and ultimately to consumers.
Source: Iowa State University
- Gasoline averaged $4.13 per gallon in the U.S. according to recent EIA data (June 16, 2008), while July ethanol futures were trading for $2.90 (June 17, 2008).
Source: Energy Information Administration
- The average yearly salary of an American worker in 2006 was $36,276. The per capita fuel use in 2006 was 8.6 gallons per week per person, or approximately 447 gallons per year. Using these statistics, the average American spends the first three weeks of each year earning enough money to pay for the gas in his/her car. With the rising cost of gas, the bill is getting higher every year.
Source: Energy Information Administration
- In 2002, the average American driver spent $14.50 per week on gas. In 2008, the weekly gas bill is $41.00. This is a weekly fuel increase of 183 percent.
Source: Energy Information Administration
IMPACT OF OIL PRICES
- In February 1998, a barrel of oil was $9.31. In February 2008, a barrel of oil was $100, an increase of 974 percent. In July 2008, a barrel of oil was $144, an additional increase of 44 percent in six months. The increased gas prices have cost Americans $476 billion per year.
Source: Energy Information Administration
- In January 2008, an average American household used 1,052 gallons of gasoline per year and spent $1,210. As of June 23 a household will drive approximately the same distance, yet spend $4,345 to purchase the gas.
Source: Energy Information Administration and American Coalition for Ethanol.
- This year the United States will import five billion barrels of oil. At $130 per barrel, the bill will come to $650 billion, or more than five times the cost of the Iraq war. Add to that $400 billion Americans will pay for domestic oil, and our total fuel bill this year will come to over one trillion dollars. For Americans, the $1,000 billion oil levy is equivalent to a 40 percent increase in income taxes across the board – with 60 percent of the sum being paid over in tribute to foreign governments.
Source: Energy Victory, by Dr. Robert Zubrin
- Consumers pick up the final tab on a barrel of oil that is traded over 20 times before it’s delivered and used, with the price going up each trade. Some market experts estimate that current prices reflect as much as $30 to $60 per barrel in unnecessary speculative costs. The result is that Americans are staying closer to home. Flying and driving long distances for family vacations are becoming too expensive and trips are being curtailed or even canceled.
Sources: StopOilSpeculationNow.com; AAA
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