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A Graph of Gas Prices Since 1919
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by mtippett | July 5, 2008 at 07:42 pm
14327 views | 0 Recommendations | 15 comments
This will make your Hummer look even dumber...
Remember those really, really high gas prices of the late 1970s and early 1980s? Well, we're past that and still climbing. From the U.S. Energy Information Administration:To quote Stein's Law, "If something cannot go on forever, it will stop." Of course, when it will stop is the big question.
The really interesting thing in the graph is that until 1998, the long-term trend for real gas prices was down.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (15)
at 02:10 on July 6th, 2008
I question the accuracy of this graph as it appears it wasn't adjusted for inflation and/or comparison between then and now. Saying that gasoline in 1919 was less than 50 cents is one thing, but without knowing how that fit into the bigger picture (remember, in 1919, you could still buy things like gumdrops for a penny and people worked for a few dollars a week) it's hard to say if that was more or less of a burden.
at 09:30 on July 7th, 2008
I believe that the 'real price' line factors in inflation.
at 02:34 on July 6th, 2008
I got my driver's license in 1969, and I recall paying 19¢ per gallon (SF Bay area).
Soon after, I remember the price jumping to 25¢ per gallon, and I thought that was outrageous ... I could only get four gallons for my buck, instead of five.
at 12:05 on July 6th, 2008
... and now it's the opposite, with four bucks for every gallon. The SF Bay Area is also the nation's most expensive fuel-buying locale, as you're no doubt reminded each time you stop to refuel...
at 13:45 on July 6th, 2008
No doubt I would be, if I hadn't moved to Atlanta in 1988.
I do miss the 'old' SF Bay area ...
at 15:02 on July 13th, 2008
Four bucks a gallon? In the UK it's heading for 5-quid a gallon! At about £1.20 a litre, scale that up, do the exchange rate, then weep for us. (I'll get off my soap-box before I get carried away)
at 01:01 on July 14th, 2008
The chart is completely false. Your chart claims the 1973 oil crisis occoured in 1983.
at 10:52 on July 22nd, 2008
Weird. You're right. And yet this comes directly from the US Government. Here is the source: http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/steo/pub/fsheets/real_prices.html
at 15:39 on July 19th, 2008
I don't understand why everyone likes to trash the hummer2. There are vehicles that get worse mileage, and there are many that are far worse for the environment, such as the prius. Its ridiculous. And as far as the prices go, If we didn't have such a weak dollar, and was about on par with the euro, our gas would be under 3 dollars a gallon.
Yay for politics!
at 17:09 on July 22nd, 2008
Dan S. before you proclaim your judgment, re-read the chart. The first oil crisis occurred in 1973; there's a corresponding bump on the chart. The second oil crisis hit in 1979. After 1980, the price dropped. The chart is completely on the mark.
Who says the Prius is bad for the environment? Compared to a the H2's is such a hog the EPA doesn't require them to post gas mileage. The H3 get 13 to 14 mpg, you figure it out. The Prius . . . 45 mpg highway.
(Someone's been on one too many conservative website.)
at 20:01 on July 22nd, 2008
The Toyota prius is a car that is made from parts not shared with other vehicles which is a waste of design time and natural resources, it has a battery that is made and harvested with some very nasty processes, and those cars have to be shipped over here using lots of fossil fuels. So factoring in the life of the vehicle, the prius is actually more harmful to the enviornment (has a larger carbon footprint) than the h2 and other large suv's even though their (twisted) epa estimates are much higher.
at 20:09 on July 22nd, 2008
And don't get me wrong, hybrids are excellent engineering feats. They are marvelous, but full electric vehicles would be much greater, but only after we fix the ways we make electricity in this country. Heck if every car on the road today was miraculously tuned into a fuel cell vehicle, and made no emissions but water and heat, we would be polluting the earth 2.8 times more than we already do. Hydrogen isn't just found in the ground like oil, it has to be extracted from natural gas or water, which is are very energy intensive, and inefficient processes. The energy it takes to make all that hydrogen would be made by extrapolating our current energy infrastructure, and by keeping percentages of wind, solar, coal... energy producers the same, the energy made form burning coal would be so immense that it would pollute the earth more than just burning gas. There are bigger problems than the cars we drive. But to all the advances the car companies are making upon going "greener", i have no problems with that. Its smart, and responsible, Everyone just needs to do their homework.
at 09:14 on July 24th, 2008
We actually had a story about this about a year ago.
at 08:28 on July 26th, 2008
Yes, That's the same report that I have also read. Now as far as the life mileage calculations go, that can be debated I think, but the main point is there. I'm so sad that more people don't know the facts in that story.
at 02:48 on September 10th, 2008
Oil has dropped $47 a barrel in the past few months and Gasoline has dropped 50 cents?... So the oil companies are figuring roughly that for every dollar drop in oil prices, gas will drop a penny..So...using that logic, shouldnt gas sell for around a dollar a gallon? Someone give me a link that I can compare gas and oil prices from when oil last sold for a hundred dollars a barrel. I'll bet thats intresting.