Parking Garages Tell An Urban Tale

It’s Labor Day weekend, and my family and I took a day trip into downtown Chicago today. Like any major metropolis during the summer tourist season (albeit the end of it), parking the car turned out to be an exercise in comparison shopping. Near high profile Chicago attractions, like Millennium Park, there is nary a parking meter in sight. No matter. We planned ahead; Sunday means free parking at city garages.

Except today.

Because of the park’s holiday jazz festival, the garage’s electronic signage flashed $25 for special event parking. Oh, yeah. That’s special alright. So special that I wheeled the car around and quickly exited to find cheaper rates.

Sure enough, a scant ten minute walk away was a relative bargain at 16 bucks. Parking was plentiful in what turned out to be an apartment building garage. But it was also a bit telling about the odd relationship between some city dwellers and their cars: they don’t seem to use them.

As I wheeled my trusty Subaru into an open space, I was struck by the number of cars covered in dust. I must have counted at least ten vehicles covered in varying densities of urban particulate. Some had light coatings, perhaps sitting unused for several weeks; several more were thicker, perhaps several months. But there was a 2008 Honda Accord that looked as if it hadn’t moved since, well, since it was sold. A thick layer of dust left the front and rear window opaque. More telling was the stalactite-type deposit from water seeping down from the floor above. It left a white stain that ran from the rear portion of the roof and down the rear window. Curious if the car was dead, or just hibernating, I peered through the foggy driver side window. Looking at the dash, the tell-tale car alarm light flashed dutifully.

It was strange about this Accord. Not a bottom-of-the rung four-banger; it was the lux edition six cylinder model with dual exhaust, fancy wheels, in-dash navigation system and black leather interior. And there it sat. The worst fate for a car, other than totaling it, is not to drive it.

Now, I’m all about utility. We use our single car. We use it effectively. We’ll use it until it dies. But, to all appearances, this Accord owner is content on paying a monthly car payment, the insurance to protect it, and the space to leave it parked in. He or she is certainly saving money on gas.

Tally Ho! (Four)

A little over four months have elapsed since we decided to live life with one car. Still no problems. None. Zip. Goose eggs. Nada.

Here’s the four month savings tote:

New car payments (4) $2,640.00
Gas $ 400
Rental car $ 0
Repairs ($1,180)

Total to date: $1,860

With one month to go I'm mulling over the thought of again having a second vehicle. Knowing that my wife and I work at home,

• should we get a second car?
• what should we get? (forget about a Smart Car or a scooter).

I Don't Think So, Newt

Now that we all know that proper tire inflation can save gas (and money), you might wonder who collects the 75 cents or so you pay to keep your black walls within spec. Is it:

A. The gas station owner
B. The air pump vendor who pays to place its inflation device at the gas station
C. The oil company whose gas is pumped there

If you guessed A or B, congratulations. You are in the know, unlike former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.



Technorati Tags: air pump, Newt Gingrich, Sean Hannity, Tire inflation

Add to: | Technorati | Digg | del.icio.us |

Imagine if we could harness this kind of gas

If there was a way to connect the utterly unrelated topics of off-shore oil drilling and Michael Phelps’ prodigious food consumption, leave it to comedian Rush Limbaugh to, well, at least try.

During his nationally-syndicated program today, Limbaugh said that since extra energy helped produce excellence in Phelps, drilling for more oil would do the same for the U.S.:

But now we read that Michael Phelps is burning and using 12,000 calories a day, while the Democrats are trying to alert everybody to the dangers posed by energy. The Democrats and left are now demonizing oil, they’re demonizing our own ability to be energy independent. They don’t want us to be able to get our own independent sources of oil or natural gas. Yet, look at Michael Phelps. […]

American consumption for the greatest production and the greatest rewards, why, that is fine if we do this in sports. However, if we consume and produce exceptionalism in goods and services for others, including ourselves, then somehow we are committing a sin.

Listen to this:


Oh, the pain at what this guy pumps.

Inflated Tires, Deflated Arguments

Barack Obama delivered some common sense advice on the stump recently about the high price of oil: properly inflated tires and regular tune ups can save gas. If everybody did, it would save a lot of gas. Did you know:

• The Department of Energy estimates that 1.2 billion gallons of fuel were wasted in 2005 as a result of driving on under-inflated tires.
• Fuel efficiency is reduced by 1% for every 3 PSI that tires are under-inflated.
• Proper tire inflation can save the equivalent of about 1 tank of gas per year.
• Proper tire inflation also reduces CO2 emissions.
• Experts estimate that 25% of automobiles are running on tires with lower than recommended pressure, because people don’t know how to check their tires or don’t realize that tires naturally lose air over time.

This is part of Car Care 101, about as basic as knowing where to put your car key.

So since when did common sense advice about saving gas become something to ridicule? You probably know some of the media “celebrities” that slung the most of this hydrocarbon-aided hash. But you may not know that some people and organizations not whole supportive of the Illinois senator actually agree with his suggestions. They include:

• California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
• McCain V.P. short-lister Charlie Crist
• NASCAR
• President Bush’s Highway Traffic Safety Department

Here’s what that aforementioned organization published in the “Energy conservation from systematic tire pressure regulation” study in 2006:

The study indicates that substantial benefits would accrue if car care facilities systematically offered complimentary tire pressure checks with oil changes including: (i) increased safety by decreasing all crashes and saving more than 100 lives per year, (ii) reduced petroleum consumption by over a billion gallons/year, which would (iia) provide over $4 billion in economic savings for US consumers that could in part be recouped in retail/auto-care facilities, (iib) reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 13.5 million tons and automobile pollution and (iic) enhance national security.

Mr. Obama never suggested that the U.S. could achieve energy independence by inflating tires. He said the aggregate savings from better maintenance would eliminate the need for off-shore drilling, as explained recently by Time magazine reporter 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. In other words: Obama is right.

Is the math entirely accurate? Maybe, depending who is doing the ciphering. But even if it’s off by half, less off-shore drilling is a good thing. Because, in the end, the U.S has only three percent – yes, that’s right – three percent of the world’s proven oil reserves. And if it will take 10 years to see the first trickle of oil, drilling now won't do a thing to bring prices down. Driving less, like we're doing, along with better maintenance, is already achieving that,