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Waste reduction fast facts: Transportation
Garbage and recycling › Recycle at school › Fast facts about waste reduction › Transportation
This resource is not exhaustive nor is it all-inclusive, but can be cited and dated from primary and secondary sources. To find out more about the methodology or accuracy, contact the referenced source.
Metro does not validate nor endorse any of these facts.
- Transportation is the world’s fastest-growing form of energy use, accounting for nearly 30 percent of world energy use and 95 percent of global oil consumption. Even relatively small shifts in transport choices have significant impacts. –Worldwatch Institute, State of the World 2004, January 2004,I SBN: 0-393-32539-3
- Today nearly 92 percent of downtown Tokyo travelers commute by rail, and the Japanese do only 55 percent of their traveling by car. West Europeans now use public transit for 10 percent of all urban trips, and Canadians for 7 percent, compared with Americans at only 2 percent. –Worldwatch Institute, Special Focus: The Consumer Society, January 2004, ISBN: 0-393-32539-3
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The U.S. rate of car ownership is the highest in the world –about 50 percent higher than in Western Europe. –Worldwatch Institute, Vital Signs 2005, "Bicycle Production Recovers," pp. 58-59, ISBN: 0-393-32689-6
http://www.worldwatch.org/brain/media/pdf/pubs/vs/2005_bikes.pdf
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Henry Ford’s world-changing Model T got about 25 miles to a
gallon of gas. In 2002, all of Ford’s total fleet averaged 24.3 miles
per gallon, while the entire fleet of American-made cars averaged 24.6
miles per gallon. –National Resource Defense Council, OnEarth Magazine, “Detroit Is Still Stuck in Reverse,” Erik Ness, Winter 2005
http://www.nrdc.org/onearth/05win/detroit1.asp -
If fuel economy were improved by 5 m.p.g., American
consumers would save 1.5 million barrels of oil per day, more than half
of what the U.S. imports from the Middle East. –Environmental Defense, Carbon Emissions Fact Sheet, July 2002
www.environmentaldefense.org/documents/2209_CarEmissionsFactSheet.pdf - In 2000, cars guzzled 8.2 million barrels of oil per day, up from 6.9 in 1990. This rise in fuel use corresponded with a 47 percent increase in petroleum imports. –Environmental Defense, “Sinful Emissions, Weighing In on Automakers’ Carbon Burdens,” July 2002
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The 8.2 million barrels per day of fuel consumed by U.S. automobiles nearly matches the amount of oil produced by Saudi Arabia. –Environmental Defense, “Sinful Emissions, Weighing In on Automakers’ Carbon Burdens,” July 2002
http://www.metro-region.org/article.cfm?articleID=5578 -
In 2000, Americans drove 128 million cars, traveling 2.3 trillion
miles. They consumed 8.2 million barrels of fuel per day and emitted
302 million tons of carbon. –Worldwatch Institute, Vital Signs, 2003
http://www.worldwatch.org/features/vsow/2003/08/06/ - If U.S. cars and light trucks were a country, they would be the fifth most polluting nation in the world. –Environmental Defense, “Sinful Emissions, Weighing In on Automakers’ Carbon Burdens,” July 2002
- The typical SUV today has a fuel economy 29 percent lower than that of the average car, resulting in a CO2 emissions rate roughly 40 percent higher. –Environmental Defense, “Sinful Emissions, Weighing In on Automakers’ Carbon Burdens,” July 2002
- Garbage trucks in the U.S. consume approximately 1 billion gallons of diesel fuel annually and get the lowest fuel efficiency (2.8 miles per gallon) of any vehicle type. Transit buses, single-unit heavy-duty trucks, and tractor-trailers get 2.9, 7.0, and 6.1 miles per gallon, respectively. –INFORM, “Greening Garbage Trucks: New Technologies for Cleaner Air,” Contributors Deborah Gordon Juliet Burdelski James S. Cannon, 2003 INFORM, Inc. 120 Wall Street New York, NY 10005-4001
- While heavy-duty diesel-powered vehicles (including garbage trucks) make up only 7 percent of vehicles on the road, they contribute 69 percent of on-road fine particulate pollution and 40 percent of nitrogen oxide emissions. –INFORM, “Greening Garbage Trucks: New Technologies for Cleaner Air,” Contributors Deborah Gordon Juliet Burdelski James S. Cannon, 2003 INFORM, Inc. 120 Wall Street New York, NY 10005-4001
- Only 0.5 percent of the total distance people travel each year is done by air, yet planes use up about 5 percent of transportation energy. –Worldwatch Institute, State of the World 2004, January 2004,I SBN: 0-393-32539-3
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The United States has the highest rate of carbon emissions
in the world, with close to 1,600 million metric tons of carbon
released annually (about 25 percent of the world’s total). –Environmental Defense, Carbon Emissions Fact Sheet, July 2002
www.environmentaldefense.org/documents/2209_CarEmissionsFactSheet.pdf - In 2000, 210 million motor vehicles in the United States were responsible for emitting 302 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. –Environmental Defense, “Sinful Emissions, Weighing In on Automakers’ Carbon Burdens,” July 2002
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A gallon of gasoline weighs 6 pounds, but when burned and
combined with oxygen in the air, the resulting compound weighs nearly
20 pounds. –Environmental Defense, Carbon Emissions Fact Sheet, July 2002
www.environmentaldefense.org/documents/2209_CarEmissionsFactSheet.pdf - Cycling accounts for some 12 percent of all trips in Germany and 27 percent of trips in the Netherlands. In contrast, in the United States, bicycle infrastructure is much less extensive and less sophisticated. As a result, cycling accounts for less than 1 percent of all trips. –Worldwatch Institute, Vital Signs 2003, “Bicycle Production Seesaws, “ pp. 58-59.
- Worldwide, bicycles outnumber automobiles almost 2 to 1, but of all the trips taken in the U.S. just 0.6 percent are made by bicycle. –Northwest Environment Watch, John Ryan, “ Small Wonders: Everyday Things for a Healthier Planet,” 1999
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In the United States, the share of trips to work by bike fell
from 0.5 percent to an even more negligible 0.4 percent between 1980
and 2000. –Worldwatch Institute, Vital Signs 2005, "Bicycle Production Recovers," pp. 58-59, ISBN: 0-393-32689-6
http://www.worldwatch.org/brain/media/pdf/pubs/vs/2005_bikes.pdf
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