Take the Chapter Average Fuel Economy Survey!

In furtherance of AJC's National Energy Policy Statement, the Washington Chapter encourages its members to save energy at all levels of usage – in the home, at the office, in choosing the fuels we use in our vehicles. The outpouring of dollars for gasoline and other oil products (including approximately $400 million daily to Iran and Venezuela) is enriching some of the world’s most dangerous regimes, causing us as Americans and as Jews to finance brutal anti-American, anti-Semitic and anti-Israel states and terrorist groups with our petrodollars. For this reason, as well as for the negative impact of fossil fuels on global warming, we are morally and fiscally obliged to do everything we can to curb our demand for oil.

There are technical solutions that are available to us today and we must take advantage of them to help reduce our nation’s oil use now. One of the things we can do is consider fuel issues when purchasing a car or truck. Full hybrid cars and trucks get maximum fuel savings over their conventionally powered counterparts. Although partial hybrids provide some fuel savings, especially when coupled with a small engine, most partial hybrid models, unfortunately, do not achieve sufficient fuel economy.1 Diesel motors are 30% more efficient than gasoline and biodiesel made from soy and other vegetable products can be used in limited percentages in any diesel motor, including in cars, trucks, buses and boats. Biodiesel B20, which is a blend of 20% soy-based bio-fuel and 80% petroleum diesel, is increasingly available to the public in the Washington, DC area. Although both ethanol and compressed natural gas require special fuel systems, vehicles that use these fuels, as well as diesel, are available in local showrooms.  2. Many of these unconventionally powered vehicles are comfortable, roomy, highly drivable and useful; thereby retaining the comfort and safety Americans like to have in cars and trucks. At the same time, purchasing such vehicles would help to reduce the demand for imported fuels. Some of these vehicles may currently be more expensive to buy than their conventionally-powered counterparts; however, an increase in sales of unconventionally powered vehicles would encourage manufacturers to produce enough of them to satisfy demand, so that their purchase premium, if any, should disappear.

Reducing our demand for oil and petroleum products, like gasoline and petro-diesel, represents the highest priority for the United States in the field of energy and trade. The Washington Chapter can set an example for AJC members throughout the country. By our actions we can help raise awareness of this crisis, and show that there is a way to put a stop to our country's ever-growing oil demand.

To read the AJC Washington Chapter Resolution and to see a list of vehicles that qualify with the Resolution, click  here.

To read AJC National's Statement on Energy, click here.

To read AJC's Statement on Energy Legislation, click here.

To take the Washington Chapter's Average Fuel Economy Survey, click here.