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Fuel For Thought

In line with recent talk of climate change, I'm interested in sparking an energy and environment debate. The information below was published on the UK's Independent newspaper website. It makes for interesting reading about US energy consumption. There is an obvious energy crisis looming for the world. Instead of desperately looking for new oil deposits, wouldn't it make more sense to cut down our energy consumption or seriously look at nuclear energy again?

The United States constitutes 4 per cent of the world population
It is responsible for a quarter of all carbon dioxide emissions - an average of 40,000 pounds of carbon dioxide is released by each US citizen every year - the highest of any country in the world, and more than China, India and Japan combined
Americans use 50 million tons of paper annually - consuming more than 850 million trees
There are more than 200 million cars and light trucks on american roads
According to the Federal Department of Transportation, they use over 200 million gallons of petrol a day
Motor vehicles account for 56 per cent of all air pollution in The United States
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2002 concluded that people living in the most heavily polluted metropolitan areas have a 12 per cent increased risk of dying of lung cancer than people in the least polluted areas
32 of the 50 busiest US airports currently have plans to expand operations
Every year US industries release at least 2.4 billion pounds of chemicals into the atmosphere
Despite having just 2 per cent of known oil reserves, the US consumes 25 per cent of the world's oil production
16 per cent of world oil production goes into american cars alone.
Approximately 160 million people living in 32 US states live in regions with smog and soot levels considered dangerous to health
The new clear air interstate rule aims to cut sulphur dioxide by 73 per cent and nitrogen oxide by 61 per cent in the next 10 years
Around 50 million new cars roll off US assembly lines each year
There are already more than 20 million four-wheel-drive vehicles on US roads
More than 1.5 million gallons of oil were spilled into US waters in 2000 alone
Only 1 per cent of american travel is on public transport, an eighth of that in the UK and an eighteenth of that in Japan
As much as 5.99 tonnes of carbon dioxide is emitted per American per year, compared with 0.31 tonnes per Indian or 0.05 tonnes per Bangladeshi.
The US had 16 major oil spills between 1976 and 1989, whereas France suffered six and the UK five
The average american produces 864kg of municipal waste per year, almost three times the quantity of rubbish produced annually by an Italian.

-ends-

Thought Fuel

First off, the comments you start with and the general tone of the post put allot of blame on the USA. Not that we don't deserve it, but its really not necessary to blame a particular nation for the air polluting cars in the world. It just so happens that more Americans percent wise can afford cars than the rest of the world. But people/consumers are not what is holding up the revolution of the pollutant free car. Big oil companies are what will not allow things like electric cars to take off. Electric cars have been made that go for seven years with no new batteries and can go a hundred and twenty miles per hour. Much more efficient than gasoline cars, so why not the mass production? The reason is that the over seas oil companies hold the world hostage! All you have to do is threaten to raise gas so high no one can afford it and everyone backs down. At the moment, everyone needs gas, so the gas companies have to be appeased. Since the electric cars are not mass produced, they remain expensive. Hybrid cars are starting to make a splash, but they still use gasoline engines for in city driving, where the pollution is the worst. It is going to be a long hard journey to move away from gas powered cars, and its going to be hardest on the US since we have more cars than anyone.

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Australians are also terrible polluters per capita so my post wasn't dumping blame on the US. Sorry, I should have made that more clear. Unfortunately they were the only statistics the Independent website had. My point was that countries like the US and Australia use too much energy and could cut down their consumption.

I don't agree with you on Americans being the most able to afford automobiles. There are a number of countries in Europe and the Middle East in particular that have higher average earnings than the States.

I think that Americans definitely love cars and have a stronger history in the automobile industry than most countries. But according to those stats it also appears Americans hate public transport, or there is a distinct lack of public transport infrastructure. Is this the case, it surprised me a bit?

I think both of our coutnries are very indulgent in our use of energy and resources and this definitely can be curtailed. 4% of the population should never use 25% of the world's oil resources or contribute a similar amount of carbon dioxide.

You make a very good point about electric and hybrid cars. I really wish as a society we would embrace this technology more. Imagine the difference in pollution if everyone was driving an eletric car. It wouldn't surprise me at all if large oil companies were paying off manufactureres and governments to prevent this technology from rolling off the production line.

Green groups always whinge about converting to wind and other alternative forms of energy production. Realistically nuclear energy is by far the best option and most effective to curb global warming. It's also politically hanstrung at the moment which is a shame. But as a society I think we can cut down our energy consumption and waste considerably with a bit of common sense and goodwill. This will make a difference to future generations.

Thought Fuel

I have three comments to make.

First, I think one reason the US tends to "love" cars is that we have much more rural areas and less public transport available in those areas. We need our cars to get to the doctor, the grocery store and, of course, to work. Many european nations have more urban areas and better public transporation. The US is larger than any European nation that I know of and so of course we will contribute more to polution than any European nation.

Second, I was recently watching a documentary on China. They are quickly becoming modernized and have a huge population. The Chinese have apparently fallen in love with cars, as well. However, in China, cars don't face the same pollution restrictions/standards that they do in the US and other more modern countries. So, the manufacturers don't include the same pollution control devices on them that they do when they build these same models for other countries. There is a growing concern about the amount of world pollution this is going to cause in the next decade because of their immense population.

Third, as a country becomes industrialized it begins to add more significantly to pollution. So, rather than compare any country to overall world population, these statistics would be more meaningful if compared to the population of equally industrialized nations. First world to first world, third world to third word...

Since the statistics you used only named one country specifically as a problem (US) and you did not add your thoughts relative any other country is was a natural conclusion to assume you were directing this at the US. Thanks for clarifying.

Edited: funbikerchick on 29th Jun, 2005 - 1:52pm

Thought Fuel

I think you make two good points.

The US is a big industrialised country so of course it will pollute more than average. I don't quite understand how it produces more carbon dioxide per capita than Chinam India and Japan combinded. That is a significant comparison when you consider the size of those countries, and combined they would easily have more automobiles. I'm a bit puzzled how they came up with that stat, it sounds hard to believe, especially when you visit India?

Another good point is China is extremely hungry for resources. The development there is astronomical. I really hope the world takes notice of China and its control over pollution because it could have a detrimental effect on global warming if not monitored. Chinese cars are actually much better than they once were. The most popular car over there is the Volswagen Golf. The Chinese are slowly starting to adhere to the sort of manufacturing standards of the rest.

The public transport situation in the US did startle me because I would have thought America would be a leader in this area given its size and how technologically advanced the country is.

While there might be some conjecture over the statistics, I think they are still startling and efforts should be made across the world to cut down on our polluting ways.

Do you think the US or others would take well to cutting down on energy consumption?

Fuel For Thought

I don't know about India, but I suspect there actually may be more cars in the US than in China. China is a very poor country and they are just starting to get cars. Also, I wonder how old these statistics are. Also, the US has more industry than China and probably more than India as well. These countries are just beginning to come to industrialization.

In the US, no. I can't answer for any other countries since I am not familiar with the people. I no that I am not very energy conscious. I just bought a V-6 truck because my 4 cylinder didn't have enough power. My sister just bought a 6 cylinder car for the same reason. Prices will need to go much higher before the majority will get concerned.

Having said that, I know some members on this forum from the US, that I would bet are far more energy conscious than I am. I just don't think they are in the majority.

Fuel Thought

In my view, it is useless to loose words on US pollution until US accepts the Kioto protocols. The message of US government is clear: we don't care about it if it hurts our economy. The oil lobby is one of the strongest in US, and of course they won't support any reduction in petrol useage.

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Matija, that isn't just the position of the government, but since the government is comprised of the people, it is the position of many of the people, myself included.

I think we can find ways to reduce pollution, and, in fact, many pollution controls are in place in the US, without having to "hurt" our economy in the process. This problem didn't arise overnight, and, I think, it is unreasonable to expect that it will be resolved overnight.