Biosurvey Results June 2008
Posted by Jonesey at 6/5/2008 10:35 AM and is filed under uncategorized 
Hello again! Yes, we are back on the blog. Evolution Biodiesel is doing great, which is why the blog has been somewhat neglected. We'll post another one soon to catch everybody up on what we've been doing since last September.
I was given the assignment about a week ago to ask some simple survey questions about biodiesel and get a feel for what the general public knows. The survey group was very random (anybody who would answer my questions in the grocery store or pick up the phone). The two areas I surveyed, Huntsville, Texas and a small town outside Houston, are very diverse. Huntsville is home for the college crowd, state employees (mostly Texas Department of Criminal Justice employees), and people involved in the agriculture industry. Surprisingly I ended up with 42 people that were more than willing to answer my questions. When one conversation started in the grocery store, another person would jump into the conversation. Gasoline is not only a great ice breaker, but a common interest/aggravation that many people have plenty to say about.
I didn't need to ask to know how everybody felt about the rising costs of gas. Some people looked at me like I was asking the stupid question in school. Nobody is happy filling up their gas tanks and seeing that $2 barely gets them half of a gallon. One rather humorous, young respondent said that he's rather "have his face chewed off by rabid hamsters" than buy more gasoline. You hear about it everywhere you go, people saying how much mpg their car gets, comparing how much it costs to fill up, and, even scarier, how much gas is costing them each week. A lot of the people I spoke with automatically spoke up about what they have had to give up, mostly just the little treats we allow ourselves here and there (that one is Starbucks for me). A few people I talked to gave up their locations- they moved closer to work because the drive to Houston was cutting in to their salary too much for their comfort. Some had begun carpooling to work, but most were doing simple things to cut corners- save all the errands for one trip to conserve fuel, and switch the big truck in for the small car we all used to cringe at. What was upsetting was the younger respondents (roughly 19-25) didn't seem to be changing their consumption habits at all.
Is the price of gas going to continue to rise? Only one respondent answered no. There was a general consensus that gas was going to continue to rise because of higher demand (with India and China developing), depleting supplies and Big Oil trying to get every last penny they can. The lone dissenter believed gas prices are eventually going to fall because, at some point, gas costs will be too high for the consumer and prices will have to fall.
When the subject of biodiesel was brought up, most questioned had at least heard about it, but didn't know anything beyond that. About six people had gotten the problems of ethanol mixed up with biodiesel, and three had thought that a diesel engine has to undergo major modifications in order to run on biodiesel. Although all but five of the people I talked to drove gas powered vehicles, every person was very curious about what biodiesel has to offer. Hopefully this will start some good conversation about renewable energy, and cause more people to get online and do a little research.
How much are we willing to give up to Big Oil? The Sea of SUV's is slowly drying up (this isn't such a bad occurrence), and people are finally beginning to consider life without petroleum. If some of the scientists are right and we've already hit our peak production, we are running out of time to fix this problem. We've all been taught that petroleum is a non-renewable resource since grade school, why is it so shocking now to hear that supplies are dwindling? In the 1970's our government took measures to slow our consumption of petroleum (close the gas stations on Sunday for one). Since then we have the Ipod, Blu-Ray discs, lap top computers, internet accessible cell phones, and are still somehow using cars that still run on gas... only now those vehicles have auto start, GPS navigation systems, and respond to verbal commands.
I was given the assignment about a week ago to ask some simple survey questions about biodiesel and get a feel for what the general public knows. The survey group was very random (anybody who would answer my questions in the grocery store or pick up the phone). The two areas I surveyed, Huntsville, Texas and a small town outside Houston, are very diverse. Huntsville is home for the college crowd, state employees (mostly Texas Department of Criminal Justice employees), and people involved in the agriculture industry. Surprisingly I ended up with 42 people that were more than willing to answer my questions. When one conversation started in the grocery store, another person would jump into the conversation. Gasoline is not only a great ice breaker, but a common interest/aggravation that many people have plenty to say about.
I didn't need to ask to know how everybody felt about the rising costs of gas. Some people looked at me like I was asking the stupid question in school. Nobody is happy filling up their gas tanks and seeing that $2 barely gets them half of a gallon. One rather humorous, young respondent said that he's rather "have his face chewed off by rabid hamsters" than buy more gasoline. You hear about it everywhere you go, people saying how much mpg their car gets, comparing how much it costs to fill up, and, even scarier, how much gas is costing them each week. A lot of the people I spoke with automatically spoke up about what they have had to give up, mostly just the little treats we allow ourselves here and there (that one is Starbucks for me). A few people I talked to gave up their locations- they moved closer to work because the drive to Houston was cutting in to their salary too much for their comfort. Some had begun carpooling to work, but most were doing simple things to cut corners- save all the errands for one trip to conserve fuel, and switch the big truck in for the small car we all used to cringe at. What was upsetting was the younger respondents (roughly 19-25) didn't seem to be changing their consumption habits at all.
Is the price of gas going to continue to rise? Only one respondent answered no. There was a general consensus that gas was going to continue to rise because of higher demand (with India and China developing), depleting supplies and Big Oil trying to get every last penny they can. The lone dissenter believed gas prices are eventually going to fall because, at some point, gas costs will be too high for the consumer and prices will have to fall.
When the subject of biodiesel was brought up, most questioned had at least heard about it, but didn't know anything beyond that. About six people had gotten the problems of ethanol mixed up with biodiesel, and three had thought that a diesel engine has to undergo major modifications in order to run on biodiesel. Although all but five of the people I talked to drove gas powered vehicles, every person was very curious about what biodiesel has to offer. Hopefully this will start some good conversation about renewable energy, and cause more people to get online and do a little research.
How much are we willing to give up to Big Oil? The Sea of SUV's is slowly drying up (this isn't such a bad occurrence), and people are finally beginning to consider life without petroleum. If some of the scientists are right and we've already hit our peak production, we are running out of time to fix this problem. We've all been taught that petroleum is a non-renewable resource since grade school, why is it so shocking now to hear that supplies are dwindling? In the 1970's our government took measures to slow our consumption of petroleum (close the gas stations on Sunday for one). Since then we have the Ipod, Blu-Ray discs, lap top computers, internet accessible cell phones, and are still somehow using cars that still run on gas... only now those vehicles have auto start, GPS navigation systems, and respond to verbal commands.
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