Ask the Fuel Expert

We’ve heard the phrase, do more with less, right? But surely, where fuel is concerned, more production requires more fuel. Simple logic, isn’t it? Well, like everything today, nothing is simple and when you look at new opportunities and new technology, it’s now a realistic idea to get more productivity out of less fuel. Here’s what I mean.

Know your True Cost of Fuel

Proven ways for construction companies to lower fuel costs, reduce consumption and improve operating efficiency

Fuel represents the highest business cost behind labour for organizations in construction and other fuel-dependant services. Construction firms face additional pressure in the post-recession economy to manage costs, meet budgets and keep a firm hand on projects. Understandably, as fuel prices continue to rise, everyone wants to reduce their exposure to rising costs.

As managers we all want to be in control. If not it costs us money. Everything from operations expenses, to equipment, to labour and all costs from computers to fuel must be controlled. And those things we can’t control, we must manage around. Over the last two and a half years we have had to manage our businesses around uncontrollable economic factors. Wherever we turned pundits were explaining the recession. In Canada we were not hit as hard as our friends in the US, but still we had some devastating effects. I hope you made it through.

Today the news is full of uncertainty in the petroleum industry with the ongoing political turmoil across the North African continent. What will all this mean for American energy's security in the long term? In order to answer that question we may have to start thinking about using an American Continental approach to resolve our seemingly never ending oil dependency on overseas crude oil imports.

There’s a clue to this year’s gasoline prices in last year’s pricing anomaly.

At the end of December 2010 the average price of gasoline in the U.S. was $3 per gallon, forty cents higher than the $2.60 per gallon price posted on the first day of 2010.

As an avid reader of all things oil, I occasionally turn to Bill Mann’s Wall Street Journal column, Bill Mann’s Canada. Recently, he reviewed results from a survey of American business peoples’ knowledge of Canada. And, as you might guess, the results were not pretty.

The piece caught my interest because my home, in Terry, Montana, is a long stone’s throw from Canada and my radio often gets better reception from Saskatchewan than from US stations, so I am up to the challenge. Here are some highlights:

These last few weeks, Jack Frost has taken a bite out of some of us while Mother Nature has shined warmly on others. It’s that time of the year again when weather conditions can change quickly without notice, for the best or the worst. But one thing you can count on this winter is that harsh operating conditions will happen fast, so you must be prepared.

Ask drivers how much fuel is used in their truck or equipment and the typical answer goes something like: “About $200 a week” or, “Four of five fill ups a month” or worse yet, “What do I care? My company pays for the fuel.”

Fleet managers cringe when they hear those kinds of responses because that information is meaningless to anyone other than the person responsible for monitoring that kind of information.

How many kilometers or miles do you drive in a week? How many liters or gallons does it take to fill your fuel tank each time?

Setting sustainability targets for energy use are of great importance due the threats to human society, economic development and ecosystems, which are caused by currently unsustainable human activities.

The dollar is posting gains this week with more bad news about sovereign debt, particularly in Ireland, and moves by speculative investors to the U.S. dollar as a safe-haven. In addition to that, the breakout of hostilities between North and South Korea has brought about more interest in the dollar.