Gasoline Consumption in the U.S.

Petroleum is used in everything from medications to lubricants, partially explaining its high usage in the U.S.’s heavily driven consumer economy. According to the EIA, the U.S. consumes approximately 21 million barrels of oil daily, the majority of which is refined into gasoline. To put this in perspective the U.S. consumes more gasoline than South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia combined. This article will focus on this affinity to gasoline and the forces that led to it.

 

Factors Supporting U.S. Affinity for Gasoline

First and foremost, the U.S. is a relatively wealthy nation, which supported by a number of government policies, sets the stage for high gasoline consumption, namely:

• Relatively low fuel taxes
• Low fuel efficiency requirements
• Poor public transportation system

There are more than 244 million vehicles in the U.S., or over 0.75 vehicles per individual, made possible by relatively low purchase taxes on vehicles, a vast highway and convenient highway system, and a robust infrastructure for refueling these vehicles.

Of course the number of vehicles alone does not equate to these gasoline consumption levels. In fact, many countries maintain the same ratios of vehicles to individuals. And, though it is true that most of these countries do not have the vastness of territory to cover that the U.S. does, the primary reasons for the disparity in usage are:

• The price of gasoline, where Europeans, for example, pay twice as much per gallon.
• Fuel efficiency brought about by the selection of vehicle (e.g. SUV over smaller cars) and government regulation. The average car in Europe realizes 32 miles per gallon as compared to 22 miles per gallon in the U.S.
• The relatively low percentage of diesel fueled cars in the U.S., estimated at 4 percent, as compared to European percentages in the range of 40 percent. This difference is due to the U.S. government taxing diesel fuel more heavily.
• Life style choices as many U.S. inhabitants opt to live in suburbs at a considerable distance from the major cities where other travel and commuting options are more prevalent.
• Ever decreasing levels of government funded public transportation projects, estimated at 50 percent, as compared to that allotted to constructing new highways, typically in the range of 80 percent.

As a point of comparison, people in the U.S. complete only 20 percent of their travel without cars vs. nearly 50 percent in France.

Recent Trends Leading to Reduced Gasoline Consumption

Despite a track record of reduced consumption during the recessions of 1975, 1980 and 1990, only to return to pre-recession levels of gasoline use once the economic downturn abated, the most recent reduction may prove more permanent.

• Not only were higher gasoline prices in 2008 a factor, where Americans drove over 9 billion miles less and consumed 4 percent less gasoline in year-over-year comparisons, but the weak housing and consumer markets have brought about an era of frugality and scrutiny regarding across-the-board discretionary spending.
• And where spending on vehicles has occurred there has been a recent shift to purchasing smaller, more fuel efficient cars; combined with a migration from the suburbs to locations closer to places of work.
• Further, Government policies enforcing more rigorous fuel efficiency standards and offering subsidies in the purchase of hybrid vehicles have resulted in a noted decrease in sales of large cars of over 26 percent and comparable increases in smaller and hybrid vehicles of 6.5 percent and 15 percent, respectively.

A positive by-product of these trends is an overall one-third reduction of CO2 emissions, where U.S. has the dubious distinction of producing more CO2 emissions than any other nation in the world, except China.

1. teofilo dominguez mora says:

   August 23, 2010 at 1:19 pm

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