Motorists keep on pumping

None of this detracts from the fact that many Americans, particularly those with fixed or low incomes, are feeling the pinch. But there are often few significant, affordable changes that can be made overnight, economists said.

“If somebody lives 20 miles from where they work and they have an SUV, they can’t do very much about that in the short run,” said Stephen P. Brown, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas. The savings from switching to a hybrid-electric vehicle would be negligible when the cost of the new car is factored in, he said.

Brown believes an average price of $3 a gallon will spur more fuel conservation, perhaps in the form of carpooling, but he and other economists said consumers were more likely to cut back their spending on food and trips to the mall first.

“You and I are locked into our daily commutes and it’s pretty difficult for most of us to switch and dramatically alter the way we get to work and get to the grocery store,” said William Veno, a fuel expert at Cambridge Energy Research Associates in Cambridge, Mass. Veno said 40 percent of all gasoline consumption in the U.S. is tied to commuting.

Migration out of urban areas increases gas usage, while the rise in employment is putting more Americans back on the road, he said.

Also, energy-intensive industries such as airlines and trucking are gulping more fuel due to higher demand, in spite of their efforts to operate more efficiently.

Some consumers are cutting back as best they can.

Home builder Tim Sullivan of Centennial, Colo., considers his Ford F-250 his office. He often clocks more than 200 miles a day visiting construction sites in the Denver suburbs, but no longer lets his truck idle when he’s checking on work crews.

But the extra driving is worth it.

“The price of gas is totally outweighed by the selling of the homes,” said Sullivan, who added that he would not let the extra cost of fuel get in the way of vacations or other recreational activities.

Some gasoline retailers said they have noticed falling sales.

Jay Ricker, president of Ricker Oil Co., in Anderson, Ind., said sales are down anywhere from 6 percent to 10 percent compared with last year at the 30 retail outlets he operates. But, he acknowledged, that might also reflect the rising popularity of so-called hypermarts, such as Wal-Mart and Costco, which sell gasoline cheaper to attract customers to their stores.

In blue-collar cities like Muncie and Fort Wayne, “people are watching their pennies very closely,” he said.

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