LAT: U.S. Emits Half of World's Car-Caused Greenhouse Gas, Study Says

[DeepModem Mom]

U.S. Emits Half of Car-Caused Greenhouse Gas, Study Says
Americans drive more in vehicles with lower fuel standards, says an environmental group.
By Janet Wilson, Times Staff Writer
June 28, 2006

American cars and pickup trucks are responsible for nearly half of the greenhouse gases emitted by automobiles globally, even though the nation's vehicles make up just 30% of the nearly 700 million cars in use, according to a new report by Environmental Defense.

Cars in the U.S. are driven more miles, face lower fuel economy standards and use fuel with more carbon than many of those driven in other countries, the authors found. According to the report by the environmental group, due out today, U.S. cars and light trucks were driven 2.6 trillion miles in 2004, equal to driving back and forth to Pluto more than 470 times.

The report's authors hope their findings will bolster efforts in Congress to require federal regulators to raise fuel economy standards for vehicles and set a mandatory cap on greenhouse gases from all sources. Numerous studies have linked carbon dioxide emissions from burning of fossil fuels such as gasoline to global warming.

One surprising finding was that small cars emitted more carbon dioxide than SUVs, 25% of the total compared with 21%. That is because there are more older small vehicles with higher emissions still in service, said lead author John DeCicco, a mechanical engineer specializing in automobile research.

"Even though SUVs get worse fuel economy and burn more gas, there's roughly twice as many small cars in operation," he said....

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-greenhouse28jun28,0,3775036.story?coll=la-home-nation

[kestrel91316]

1. I don't know why everybody is so het up about these supposed

"greenhouse gases". Anybody with a lick of sense knows that GAWD gave us this earth to do with what we please, and if we want to run our cars 'til the air is completely full of CO2 and NO2 and methane and stuff then that's just fine with him. He will look after us.

That thing about garage doors being closed and cars running doesn't apply to us.

:crazy:

[orwell]

2. We're Number 1...

...We're Number 1!

[gasperc]

4. there can't be two number 1's, that makes 11

silly

[madrchsod]

3. no real investment in urban transportation

no investment in real energy efficient cars
no urban planning in transportation efficiency
manufacturing and service industry hiring practices

we have a war on terror to win-

[Lisa]

5. very interesting -- this tends to support another of the points ...

... raised by Gore in "An Inconvenient Truth" (the scene with the graphs showing emission standards in different countries). So "lower fuel economy standards and ... fuel with more carbon" does have a substantial impact.

[Phx_Dem]

6. not for long

Still, city planners project a quadrupling of cars and trucks in the city by 2020 due to rapid income growth and China's admission into the World Trade Organization. The report predicts a four-fold increase in greenhouse gases under the best of conditions, which would mean effective traffic management combined with already-planned infrastructure investments. It has the potential of being a world-class transport system in terms of its reduced environmental impacts. Nevertheless, the anticipated economic growth, accompanied by more vehicles and more energy use will cause greenhouse gases to rise rapidly, the authors note. If market forces are allowed to play a greater role in the economy and government planning a lesser role, Shanghai will see a seven-fold increase in such emissions.


http://www.its.berkeley.edu/itsreview/ITSReviewonline/december2002/greenhouse.html

[Ragin_mad]

7. Now how in the hell does US fuel have more carbon in it ?

Do other countries remove the carbon from gasoline before using it ?

[daleo]

8. Using more fuel = more carbon exhausted as CO2

I think that is all they mean. U.S. cars tend to get worse mileage, have fewer passengers, and are driven further due to longer commutes. The gasoline wouldn't be any different, as far as cabon content goes (well, there might be very marginal differences).

[IChing]

9. The point is it is SUV's, emission standards and CAFE standards

More SUVs are sold in the US than any other type of car, overtaking small cars in 2002.
The report predicted that they "soon will be the main source of automotive CO2 emissions",
emitting the equivalent of 55 large coal-fired power plants.

"The fuel economy of US vehicles has been declining since 1988, which means the CO2 emissions have been increasing,
associated with a shift to large trucks," said John DeCicco, one of the report's authors.

The emission standards for California vehicles are tougher than the rest of the states and that helps.

You see more hybrid buses and cars in California than you would in Georgia or Florida

[maxsolomon]

10. julian borger is just jealous

all them euros hates us fer ahr freedum.