Hot Fuel Costs Consumers Billions
When
gasoline gets hot, it expands. But U.S. fuel pumps don’t adjust for
the bigger volume, costing American consumers billions. As a liquid,
gasoline expands and contracts depending on temperature. At
60-degrees (a standard set nearly a century ago), the 231-cubic-inch
American gallon puts out a certain amount of energy. However, that
same amount of gas expands to more than 235 cubic inches at 90
degrees. U.S. Dispensing systems, however, are not set to compensate
for that difference meaning that consumers get less gas yet pay the
same amount at the pump.
Put simply, every degree over the 60-degree standard diminishes the energy a 231-cubic-inch gallon delivers to the nation’s fleet of cars, trucks, boats, buses and heavy equipment — and forces drivers to consume more and pay more for fuel. It is basic physics that, depending on the temperature, can amount to just a few cents per gallon. But it adds up to big money"
According to An Article in the Kansas City Star by Steve Everly, Recent evidence suggests that fuel is being stored at warmer temperatures than the decades old 60-degree standard. Temperature increase can be attributed to many things including:
- Environmental regulations that require double-walled storage tanks to prevent leaks have effectively created a nation dotted with underground Thermoses — keeping fuel hotter longer.
- The consolidation of fueling stations into much larger outlets in recent years. At modern stations, which average eight hoses, fuel is sold in such massive daily volumes that the fuel in underground storage tanks turns over long before it has time to cool to ground temperature.
- A population shift from cooler Rust Belt states to hotter Sun Belt states means that more people are buying hotter fuel than ever before.
When state-by-state temperature and consumption patterns are calculated, The Star estimates U.S. consumers now are being shorted the energy equivalent of roughly 760 million gallons a year of gas and diesel because of fuel expansion caused by heat — fuel that’s worth about $2.3 billion at recent prices.
Rules and Regulations:
Right now the federal government has little control over the "Hot
Fuel" issue. States would have to each adopt changes. So most of the
states look to the National Conference of Weights and Measures,
attended largely by state regulators and industry officials, to
agree on model codes for states to adopt. Yet the conference’s
annual meeting in July adjourned with little optimism that anything
would happen soon. The American Petroleum Institute (API), which
represents the industry, contends it would cost too much to fix the
problem. Moreover, it believes that consumers don’t want to be
bothered by pumps that adjust the size of a gallon to make sure they
get the same amount of energy no matter what the temperature.
