An ad by Chevron in yesterday's Washington Post

Dunno if this bike is going anywhere
Originally uploaded by randomduck.

Said the average American uses 23 barrels of oil/year--there are 22 gallons of gasoline in a barrel, plus other products are distilled from the oil, ranging from chemicals to aviation gasoline and fuel oil.

Chevron invites us to discuss conservation and energy policy with them... while I feel like bicycling (this isn't my bike, but I like the photo) like I do, is quite a contribution already.

The Philly Inquirer has an interesting story, Oil Turnaround about energy conservation in Brazil; the article says that they are on the verge of energy independence.

But I found two particularly interesting statements in the article.

1. Brazil, with 186 million residents, consumes only about 1.8 million barrels of oil a day, while the United States consumes more than 10 times as much, 58 percent of it imported, according to the U.S. Energy Department.

2. About half Brazil's sugarcane crop goes to ethanol production.
The government has pushed the use of ethanol since the global oil shortages of the 1970s, with the public's embrace of the alternative fuel rising and falling with oil prices.
Ethanol has one major drawback: It produces 20 percent fewer miles per gallon than gasoline.

But Brazilians also pay 40 percent less for ethanol, an average of $2.54 per gallon versus $4.21 per gallon of gasoline, which that makes up for the lower fuel efficiency

Note those prices....

Index Keywords: energy-oil-gasoline