In January 2005, the national average price for regular gas was $1.78. Only three and a half years later in July 2008, the same average was $4.11; a 130% increase in price. Politicians talk about national oil independence and more fuel efficient cars because they know that most Americans get a nervous feeling in their stomach every time they spend more than $50 at the corner gas station. However, are the politicians really living a life they advocate or are they not really paying attention to our national oil problems and gas prices in their personal lives? Is there a difference between Republicans and Democrats?

A lot of politicians are fickle about sharing information from their personal lives – even what kind of car they drive. Other politicians try to pretend they are “green” because they don’t personally drive a lot. In reality, they may be the worst offenders since the US government is notorious for driving politicians around in big black Chevrolet Suburbans that get 9 mpg in the city and 20 mpg on the highway. As an estimate for Republicans and Democrats in general, I looked at the 2008 presidential candidates because, after all, they represent the two parties and the media spotlight has been on them recently.
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Note that some republicans have more than one car. The “All Cars Average” is the CAFE average for all the cars a single candidate owns.
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Unfortunately, politicians are not as gas price conscious as we might wish. Democrats beat republicans by a whopping 20% margin due to a republican fleet of cars that on average gets less than 20 mpg! Democrats also seem to be having a love affair with the Ford/Mercury small hybrid SUV which greatly helps their average gas mileage. On average, republicans also own 1.7 cars per person compared to 1.0 cars per person for the democrats. The partisan differences can also be seen in McCain’s and Obama’s stance on fuel efficiency. McCain supports “enforcing existing standards” while Obama is more progressive and supports an “increase in fuel economy standards.” Despite the political rhetoric, it remains a little discouraging that politicians as a group don’t drive cars that meet the federal standard on fuel efficiency that Congress enforces and is called CAFE.

For those unfamiliar with CAFE, it stands for Corporate Average Fuel Economy. It is the stick that congress created and uses to get car manufacturers to make more fuel friendly vehicles. In 2008, the standard requires car manufacturers to have an entire fleet of vehicles that gets 24.8 mpg. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in March 2008 the average for all new cars and trucks was 26.8.

CAFE averages are also not normal averages, they are what is called a harmonic average. Imagine this… pretend you have a gas guzzler that gets 10 mpg and a hybrid that gets 90 mpg. The mathematical average is 50 mpg. However, if I want to actually get 50 mpg, I need to drive my hybrid 90 miles for every 10 miles I drive my gas guzzler. Chances are nobody does that. It is more realistic is that I put equal mileage on both my cars. If I do that, I actually get an average of 18 mpg, and that is how CAFE calculates their averages (go here for how to actually calculate the averages).

So are there any bright spots in this seemingly contradictory world that politicians live in? Yes! The great news is that even though fuel efficiency standards have been very slow to increase, politicians of both parties are actively supporting alternative technologies that will either directly or peripherally result in better choices for us in the future. Some of those technologies are:

• Zero emission cars
• Biofuels
• Clean coal technologies
• Improved battery technologies
• Hybrid cars

Personally, I can’t wait until I can drive an advanced battery and biofuel powered hybrid that gets 150 mpg. Until that time, I’ll keep wishing gas prices were lower since my own CAFE average is 21.7 mpg. I guess I need to work on my personal fuel efficiency too. Calculate your CAFE average by starting at www.fueleconomy.gov and let me know how well you are doing!