Prediction salvaged with bonus fuel economy and emissions news

I managed to save my best prediction from Gas falls faster and farther than I expected.

[W]hile the third station down the street did match the rest at $3.65, the corner station did not.  Yesterday morning, it dropped to $3.67, but by yesterday evening, it had lowered its price to $3.59.  It passed right by $3.65.  Now, I can still save my prediction if the three stations down the street are also at $3.59, so at least it will have matched them, but I haven't checked yet.

I drove by the stations and they are all at $3.59, so my call that the corner station will match them by the end of the week came true despite not getting the price right.  Between being twenty cents lower than a year ago at this time and in the case of the corner station, forty cents lower, albeit for only one day, and salvaging my prediction, I'm posting Professor Farnsworth.

Since I'm not going to waste an entry just on a simple update, I'm going to add some value.  Follow over the link for a press release from the University of Michigan about the fuel economy and CO₂ emissions of the cars sold in the U.S. last month that I originally included in Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (First of three supermoons) on Daily Kos.

Fuel economy: Small drop, but still near all-time high
July 7, 2014

ANN ARBOR—Despite a slight dip in June, fuel economy of new vehicles sold in the U.S. exceeded 25 mpg for the fifth straight month, say researchers at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.

Average fuel economy (window-sticker values) of cars, light trucks, vans and SUVs purchased last month was 25.5 mpg, down from a record-high 25.6 mpg in May. Vehicle fuel economy is now up 5.4 mpg from October 2007, the first full month of monitoring by UMTRI researchers Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle.

In addition to average fuel economy, Sivak and Schoettle issued a monthly update of their national Eco-Driving Index, which estimates the average monthly emissions generated by an individual U.S. driver. The EDI takes into account both the fuel used per distance driven and the amount of driving—the latter relying on data that are published with a two-month lag.

The EDI stood at 0.80 (the lower the value, the better) during April, up from 0.78 in both February and March. The index currently shows emissions of greenhouse gases per driver of newly purchased vehicles are now down 20 percent, overall, since October 2007.

As I wrote, good news!