Checking in again after a weekend trip to Houston, TX. 12.99 gallons got me 590.5 miles in my 2009 Civic LX (automatic), for an average of 45.458 mpg. About 550 miles of this was highway driving, at speeds of 50-60 mph (depending on weather, road conditions, traffic flow, etc), with about 40 miles of city driving thrown in (I get about the advertised 25 mpg in the city). I have my iDrive55 window cling posted on my rear driver's side window for passing cars to see.

Kate H., Baton Rouge, LA

http://climatecongress.ku.dk/newsroom/congress_key_messages/

12 March 2009

Copenhagen, Denmark: Following a successful International Scientific Congress Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges & Decisions attended by more than 2,500 delegates from nearly 80 countries, preliminary messages from the findings were delivered by the Congress? Scientific Writing Team. The conclusions will be published into a full synthesis report June 2009. The conclusions were handed over to the Danish Prime Minister Mr. Anders Fogh Rasmussen today. The Danish Government will host the UN Climate Change Conference in December 2009 and will hand over the conclusions to the decision makers ahead of the Conference.

The six preliminary key messages are:

Key Message 1: Climatic Trends

Recent observations confirm that, given high rates of observed emissions, the worst-case IPCC scenario trajectories (or even worse) are being realised. For many key parameters, the climate system is already moving beyond the patterns of natural variability within which our society and economy have developed and thrived. These parameters include global mean surface temperature, sea-level rise, ocean and ice sheet dynamics, ocean acidification, and extreme climatic events. There is a significant risk that many of the trends will accelerate, leading to an increasing risk of abrupt or irreversible climatic shifts.

Key Message 2: Social disruption

The research community is providing much more information to support discussions on "dangerous climate change". Recent observations show that societies are highly vulnerable to even modest levels of climate change, with poor nations and communities particularly at risk. Temperature rises above 2oC will be very difficult for contemporary societies to cope with, and will increase the level of climate disruption through the rest of the century.

Key Message 3: Long-Term Strategy

Rapid, sustained, and effective mitigation based on coordinated global and regional action is required to avoid "dangerous climate change" regardless of how it is defined. Weaker targets for 2020 increase the risk of crossing tipping points and make the task of meeting 2050 targets more difficult. Delay in initiating effective mitigation actions increases significantly the long-term social and economic costs of both adaptation and mitigation.

Key Message 4 - Equity Dimensions

Climate change is having, and will have, strongly differential effects on people within and between countries and regions, on this generation and future generations, and on human societies and the natural world. An effective, well-funded adaptation safety net is required for those people least capable of coping with climate change impacts, and a common but differentiated mitigation strategy is needed to protect the poor and most vulnerable.

Key Message 5: Inaction is Inexcusable

There is no excuse for inaction. We already have many tools and approaches ? economic, technological, behavioural, management ? to deal effectively with the climate change challenge. But they must be vigorously and widely implemented to achieve the societal transformation required to decarbonise economies. A wide range of benefits will flow from a concerted effort to alter our energy economy now, including sustainable energy job growth, reductions in the health and economic costs of climate change, and the restoration of ecosystems and revitalisation of ecosystem services.

Key Message 6: Meeting the Challenge

To achieve the societal transformation required to meet the climate change challenge, we must overcome a number of significant constraints and seize critical opportunities. These include reducing inertia in social and economic systems; building on a growing public desire for governments to act on climate change; removing implicit and explicit subsidies; reducing the influence of vested interests that increase emissions and reduce resilience; enabling the shifts from ineffective governance and weak institutions to innovative leadership in government, the private sector and civil society; and engaging society in the transition to norms and practices that foster sustainability.

About the congress

The International Scientific Congress on Climate Change is taking place in Copenhagen 10 ? 12 March. More than 2,000 participants are registered. The congress has received almost 1,600 scientific contributions from researchers from more than 70 countries. The preliminary conclusions from the congress will be presented Thursday 12 March at the closing session of the congress and will be developed in a synthesis report to be published in June this year. The synthesis report will be handed over to all participants at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) in December in Copenhagen by the Danish Government. It is organized by International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU):

• Australian National University
• ETH Zürich
• National University of Singapore
• Peking University
• University of California, Berkeley
• University of Cambridge
• University of Copenhagen
• University of Oxford
• University of Tokyo
• Yale University

DISCLAIMER: THIS PRESS RELEASE IS WRITTEN BY THE CLIMATE SECRETARIAT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN. THE PEOPLE QUOTED DOES NOT NECESSARILY SHARE THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED BY OTHERS IN THIS TEXT.

Alert speeders about the conservation minded driver ahead, and help spread the Drive 55 message with 4" x 11" "iDrive 55" removable window cling things. Thanks go to Gina Saitta of Omaha, Nebraska for helping with these great new stickers. 

GAO’s answer to Senator John Warner's letter asking about speed and energy efficiency confirms that slowing down saves energy and therefore reduces pollution and consumption of petroleum. Of particular interest is the following from pages 4-5:

“In general, over the last 2 decades, fuel economy gains resulting from advances in automotive technologies have largely been offset by increases in vehicle weight, performance, and accessory loads. Specifically, vehicles are heavier than in the past, because they are larger and include more technologies. For example, average vehicle weight has increased from 3,220 pounds in 1987 to 4,117 in 2008, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).”

“In addition, trends show that recent vehicles, on average, have bigger, more powerful engines that yield better performance—i.e., acceleration and greater speed—at the expense of fuel economy. For example, according to the same EPA report, average horsepower has increased from 118 to 222 over the same period. Further, increased accessory loads, such as air conditioning and electronics, have also reduced fuel economy. According to EPA, from 1987 through 2004, on a fleetwide basis, technology innovation was utilized exclusively to support market-driven attributes other than fuel economy, such as performance.”

It is also notable that GAO confirms savings of up to 630,000 barrels per day (3% of 21 million) are likely with just 50% compliance according to their research:

“In calculating these estimates, DOE assumed, among other things, a compliance rate of 50 percent and that the speed limit would affect 35 percent of on-road (highway) mileage, which means roughly a third of travel is on roads where a decrease in the speed limit would have an effect.  DOE’s estimates include savings from on-road heavy duty trucks”.

The GAO letter confirms these key facts.

1.    Economy drops off rapidly and exponentially for all vehicles at speeds above 35-45 MPH.
2.    Even at just 50% compliance with a national speed limit, on 35% of mileage, the nation will save up to 630,000 barrels per day, possibly much more.
3.    The corresponding reduction in pollution, congestion and traffic deaths remain to be quantified.
4.    Manufacturers have done nothing to improve economy for decades.

In 1974 the 55 MPH national speed limit was enacted as an emergency measure to reduce our dependence on imported crude oil that totaled about 36% of U.S. consumption.  It worked and 1985 marked a record low of less than 28% imported oil. About this same time Sammy Hagar's "I Can't Drive Fifty Five" was made popular and in 1987 congress relaxed the law to allow 65 MPH on Rural Highways. Consumption of imported oil began to skyrocket but nonetheless in 1996 the national 55 MPH speed limit was repealed and 12 years later, in 2008, U.S. dependence on imported oil has more than doubled to over 60%.  The top 5 sources of imported oil, in order, are Canada, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Venezuela and Nigeria. On August 31, 2008, Sammy Hagar helped kick off the Republican National Convention by performing his old hit. 

Click to enlarge graphic.

In response to the following email we are pleased to announce several new bumper stickers you can ORDER HERE.

Drive 55 Conservation Project bumperstickers

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Thank you Jenny, and also all the others who have sent email and encouragement. This new website is for you. Our goal: One Million Drive 55 bumperstickers!

Tim 

The amount of energy saved as a result of drivers observing ALL speed limits and never exceeding 55 MPH will increase over time as the vehicle fleet of large units is replaced by smaller "downsized" models. While slowing down reduces energy consumption for all vehicles, smaller vehicles fuel economy suffers more at high speeds than larger vehicles do. In fact, as the following chart shows, at speeds over 70 MPH a small vehicle will use nearly as much energy as larger ones, negating the benefits of its smaller size and weight!