Obama's tire pressure was off by 111 times

Editor Seattle Times

Re: Seattle Times 8/7 "Obama pokes at McCain over tire-pressure issue"

Viewing the original video I see that Obama said "we can save all the oil they are talking about getting by drilling if everyone was just inflating their tires and getting regular tuneups. You can actually save just as much."

It is true that inflating tires will save oil. But far from true that it will eliminate the need for more supply of oil, which is what he claimed.

John Hinderocker did the math: Americans drive approximately 2,880 billion miles per year. If we average 24 mpg, we use around 120 billion gallons of gasoline in our vehicles. If, through perfect tire inflation, we improved our collective fuel efficiency by 1.5%, that would be 1.8 billion gallons. A barrel of oil produces around 20 gallons of gasoline, so the total savings available through tire inflation is approximately 90,000,000 barrels of oil annually.

How does this stack up against "all the oil that they're talking about getting off by drilling"?

ANWR is estimated to produce 10 billion barrels of oil. It can replace 90 million barrels per year for 111 years, not just one year. The continental shelf will produce even more, but we don't know how much because exploration is banned.

Oil exploration will produce far, far more than inflating our tires. Obama was off. By about 111 times.