U.S. Auto Culture and the Environment

Car culture

U.S. Auto Culture and the Environment

I. Importance of Motor Vehicles in the U.S.

With <5% of world's people, the U.S. has 34% or world's 556 million motor vehicles-- some 201 million cars, trucks, vans and buses (1994).

Americans drive their cars, trucks, vans, and buses 2.36 trillion miles yearly (1994)-- enough to take us to the sun and back 10,000 times-- and as many miles as the rest of the world combined.

Motor vehicles in the U.S. burn more than 143 billion gallons of fuel yearly (1994).

Auto takes $1 of every $6 spent in U.S.

One of every six U.S. jobs supports the auto.

In America, cars provide habitat for all phases of the human life cycle-- from conception to resurrection!

The automobile provides convenience and unprecedented mobility. Despite its numerous virtues, the car has many destructive effects on people and environment.

II. The Auto's Environmental Impacts

A. Accidents -- motor vehicles kill 40,000 to 50,000 people in U.S. yearly (350,000 globally). In the U.S., the auto kills more people under 25 than any other cause of death. In 1998, 41,471 people were killed by automobiles in the U.S. and 3,192,000 were injured; in 1999 another 41,345 people were killed.

B. Land lost -- 60-65% of land in and near large U.S. cities goes to transportation

C. Resources used by motor vehicles:

20% of steel (in U.S.)
12% of aluminum
10% of copper
95% of nickel
35% of zinc
6% of rubber
through mid-1980s, 71% of lead, for batteries and gasoline; now considerably less because of phase-out of leaded gas

D. Solid wastes produced

11 million cars leave service yearly, many junked rather than recycled.

240 million tires are junked each year, joining 2-3 billion already heaped up (fire and air pollution hazards, and breeding places for mosquitoes) (optional photo)

E. Pollution by oil & gasoline

Six million underground gasoline & oil storage tanks U.S., some 500,000 already leaking

One billion gallons of motor oil used yearly on U.S., of which about 1/4 ends up in the environment

F. Air pollution

1. Nine million metric tons of hydrocarbons (= 49% of U.S. total)

2. Nine million metric tons of nitrogen oxides (= 48% of U.S. total) -- ozone & photochemical smog are produced when hydrocarbons and NO_X react in sunlight

3. 56 million metric tons of carbon monoxide (= 67% of U.S. total)

4. large amounts of carbon dioxide (= 53% of U.S. total) -- 19 lb. per gal of gasoline burned

5. 85% of benzene (human carcinogen)

6. 30% of formaldehyde (human carcinogen)

7. Fuel additives, most notably tetraethyl lead (TEL), an issue examined in a separate Geography 100 unit on Lead Pollution (optional now). In the 1990s controversy has arisen over another additive promoted by Ethyl Corporation, called MMT (optional reading; 1,300 words).

8. Tire dust: 600,000 metric tons per year in U.S. -- small latex particles enter lungs causing allergic reactions

(Optional: More on relations between latex allergies and tires, paving and asphalt, at http://pw2.netcom.com/~nam1/latex_allergy/news.html Latex allergy links, at http://pw2.netcom.com/~nam1/latex_allergy/tire.html More info on automotive emissions, at http://www.epa.gov/OMSWWW/05-autos.htm )

Ford concedes that SUVs are...

II. The Auto's Energy Impacts

A. Transportation accounts for 40 to 50% of all U.S. energy use -- about 25% used directly as fuel, plus about another 20% used indirectly for car manufacture, roads, bridges, insurance operations, etc.)

U.S. used 133 billion gal of motor fuel in 1990

10.8 million barrels of oil used in U.S. transportation each day in 1990

9 million barrels of petroleum produced in U.S. each day in 1990 (-> foreign dependency)

B. Energetically inefficient transport modes came to predominate in the 20th Century's era of cheap oil:

1. Passengers between cities -- cars only about 1/3 as fuel efficient as buses, only 1/4 as fuel efficient as trains (per passenger-mile)

2. Passengers within the city -- cars only 1/5 as fuel efficient as buses

3. Freight between cities -- trucks are less than 1/5 as efficient as trains

The historical trend: energetically inefficient modes have displaced more efficient ones -- E.g., Percentage of U.S. urban passenger-miles by mass transit:

31% in 1950

13% in 1960

6% in 1970

The miracle of SUVs...

The story of how the auto culture, with its environmental, energy and social impacts, was virtually imposed on the U.S. by several giantic corporations is told on another page.

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Thomas Detwyler maintains this page (tdetwyle@uwsp.edu)
Last updated 4 January 2001