Infographic: What’s Driving Gas Prices Today
Pump Pains: What’s Driving Gas Prices Today?
Every day a number of factors affect the fluctuating price of retail gas. We explore what those factors are and why they change.
Where the dollar goes
To understand what determines the price of retail gas, we have to look at what we’re paying for. As of June 2011, the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $3.68. Here’s how it breaks down.
What we pay for in a gallon of regular gasoline (as of June 2011):
- Taxes: 11%
- Distribution & Marketing: 11%
- Refining: 12%
- Crude oil: 66%
- Political events and conflicts
- Severe weather events
- Global economic development
- Seasonal driving spikes
- Gulf Coast (near the oil-producing Gulf of Mexico): $3.558
- New England: $3.82
- 1950: 1.5%
- 2011: 20%
- Electric car powered by leased solar: $1,200 per year to run.
- Electric car powered by purchased solar: $0 per year to run.
- Gas-powered vehicle: $2,131 per year to run.
What’s One Block Off the Grid?
One Block Off the Grid organizes group deals on solar energy. Since 2008, One Block Off the Grid has run hundreds of group deals in over 40 U.S. states and helped thousands of homeowners go solar. We’ve been featured in dozens of publications and programs including The New York Times, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, USA Today, Marketplace, Wired, and GOOD Magazine. In 2010, One Block Off the Grid sponsored the first-ever solar deal on Groupon.com and received a Heart of Green Award for “Best New Innovation.” Want to find out if there’s a group deal on solar in your area? Sign up for One Block Off the Grid (it’s free). Not ready to go solar, but want to help take solar mainstream? Tell your friends about One Block Off the Grid.
never pass gas before knowing way you pay for it:
Great info graphic ! The Electric Car powered by Purchased Solar, though, should not be shown as zero. The best way to show this is to show the annual depreciation rate of the solar energy installation that was purchased — ie: just divide the cost of the installation over the expected life of the installation (according to accounting practices). Not sure what the correct expected life is — 5 years ?
Interesting, but don’t think it costs me $1200/year to run my electric car on my leased solar array…more like $553.44 in lease payments with ~$50 in annual electricity costs (includes my home electricity use).
Downsizing, reaching hard for sustainable life style in the cards for the peons. Asians bid higher , and in good solid, unmanipulated Yuan for the same barrel of crude on world markets. “Quantitative easing” by Feds makes dollar worth less each time, so same barrel of oil costs more! Dark clouds on the horizon. Hard economic lessons coming.