In the world of automobiles, the fleet of vehicles that cover the highways of America are huge in comparison to those around the world. However, rather than something to be proud about, the size of our cars are actually a serious detriment to ourselves, as Americans, and to our world.
Growing up in Texas, I have seen first hand the obsession with massive cars. Where the phrase “Everything’s Bigger in Texas” is probably most true is in its cars. While the state certainly is entrenched in the notion that trucks are cool, Texas is not the only part of the country with massive vehicles. In fact, most of the roads throughout the United States seem to be clogged with SUVs and other trucks.
While the rest of the world seems to be very functional with cars half the size of ours, we are driving these much heavier cars that require much more gasoline. This unfortunate fact has lead the US to having the worst average miles per gallon (mpg) for its cars out of all developed nations. For example, while cars in Japan and the European Union average around 43 mpg, the cars in the US only average 27 mpg; are cars are even less efficient than those in China, which average nearly 36 mpg. As such, we are at huge levels of fuel consumption. The United States consumes 18,771,000 barrels of oil per day; that is 788,392,200 gallons/day. What’s most noteworthy is that it means the US makes up 22.3% of world’s daily petroleum usage. So, while, for example, the UK uses 1.117 gallons of petroleum per person every day, the US uses 2.517 gallons per person each day. And since motor gasoline makes up half of our petroleum consumption, it is clear our acceptance of massive automobiles is a key factor in our overuse of oil
So whether propagated by skewed perceptions or priorities or by the spread of misconceptions concerning the relative safety between small and large cars, the use of massive vehicles is a serious issue. Not only do they create such as high amount of oil use, but our trucks and SUVs create other problems as well, such as increased use of raw materials and increased pollution.
All in all, it’s an issue that needs to be addressed.
And that’s exactly what this site is here to do.
Sources:
Petroleum consumptions stats: http://www.eia.doe.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=oil_home#tab2 (Based off 2009 averages)
Populations: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
Also, this site is a work in progress, so continue to check back for more content.
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