The price of gasoline at the pumps in the Netherlands is currently 1.42 Euros per liter, the equivalent of $7.60 per gallon. The price of gasoline at the pumps in Venezuela is currently 0.097 bolivares fuerte per liter, the equivalent of about $0.16 per gallon.

* * * * *

Driving: If the price of gasoline in US America rose to $10 per gallon, it would cost $225 to fill the tank of a Ford Explorer. Driving to work 10 miles and back would cost about $13 per day. If one worked an average of 230 days per year, yearly work transportation costs would near $3,000. Being that the average American drives a total of 15,000 miles per year, the money spent on fuel for the SUV would rise to a total of about $8,800 per year. It is estimated that at this rate, the gas bill for the average family would rise from 16 percent of its retail spending to 40 percent.

Air Travel: There are about 11 million commercial flights flown domestically and internationally to and from the USA each year. The planes get an average of about 0.2 miles per gallon of jet fuel at a wholesale cost of just over $1 per gallon. Averaging about 800 miles per flight, all US commercial airlines combined spend about $44 billion per year on fuel alone. If the hypothetical price increase were to proportionally affect jet fuel, commercial airlines would be forced to spend about $140 billion on fuel each year. Historically, fuel expenses account for about 15 percent of airline operation costs. Under the hypothetical price increase, fuel costs would account for 40 percent of operation costs driving the price of air tickets up at least $50 for every $100 in fares. And even with such a price increase, it is predicted that over 1 half of all American airplanes would be grounded as they'd be too costly to fly.

Electricity: As increasing fuel costs push people towards hybrid and electric cars, the demands for electricity would increase at least 2-fold. At current capacity, the US energy grid only supports enough electricity to power 84 percent of the country's automobiles – that is if all gasoline-powered cars were traded in for hybrids. With over 26 percent of the world's known coal reserves residing in the USA, and with no major investments in a sustainable energy grid, agencies would have no choice but to drastically increase coal-fired electricity production.

Food: Eighty years ago, it was rare that American foods ever travelled more than 100 miles from the farm to the consumer. Now it is estimated that the average American meal travels 1500 miles to get from the farm to the plate. Transportation alone is responsible for 8.5 percent of food costs. With gasoline costing $10 per gallon, transportation would account for about 26.5 percent of non-local food costs, and prices would rise more than 25 cents on the dollar. This would result in the resurgence of local, small-scale food production to eliminate the 26.5 percent cost of food transportation.

* * * * *

If the hypothetical price increase was to come in the form of government taxes at the pumps, even with a 50% drop in consumption by American drivers, then in theory the government could save over $1 trillion per year that could be reinvested in a sustainable transportation infrastructure without increasing the costs of air travel.

China, with over 78,000 kilometers of railroad track, carries 25 percent of the world's total railway workload. It is the primary mode of long distance transportation with over 1.4 billion tickets sold each year at about 1 third the cost of air travel. With a new investment of $292 billion, China plans to extend its railway coverage from 78,000 kilometers to 120,000 kilometers by 2020.

By contrast, Americans only get about 0.56 percent of their total transportation miles by rail. Air travel accounts for 10.61 percent while highway driving accounts for 88.79 percent.


Sources:

Skeel, Shirley. What if Gas Cost $10 a Gallon? MSN Money. May 16, 2008.
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/SaveonaCar/WhatIfGasCost10DollarsAGallon.aspx.

Mouawad, Jad. Lessons on How to Guzzle Less Gas, From Europe and Japan. The New York Times. April, 2009.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/weekinreview/05mouawad.html?_r=1

Schoen, John W. What Does Gasoline Cost in Other Countries? MSNBC. April, 2006.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12452503/

Energy/Fuel. Air Transport Association. July, 2009.
http://www.airlines.org/economics/energy/

2007 Gasoline Consumption. American Fuels. March 8, 2008.
http://www.americanfuels.info/2008/03/2007-gasoline-consumption.html

Boehmer, Jay. 2009 Business Travel Survey: U.S. Airlines Swap Fuel Prices for Demand Crisis. Business Travel News. June 1, 2009.
http://www.btnonline.com/businesstravelnews/headlines/frontpage_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003978712

Summary 2008 Traffic Data for U.S. and Foreign Airlines: Total Passengers Down 3.5 Percent From 2007. Rita Bureau of Transportation. April 23, 2009.
http://www.bts.gov/press_releases/2009/bts019_09/html/bts019_09.html

Rail Transport in the People's Republic of China. Wikipedia. July, 2009
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transport_in_the_People's_Republic_of_China

Transportation in the United States. Wikipedia. July, 2009.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transportation_in_the_United_States

An estimated 79 percent of occupied housing units have clothes dryers. Dryers vary between 1800 and 5000 watts and are estimated to account for 10-15 percent of the average American household electric bill. Choosing to hang dry your clothes instead of using the dryer can increase the life of your clothes up to 4 times and can save up to 2220 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

* * * * *

Close to 90 percent of energy used in laundry machines goes to heating water. Therefore, washing clothes in cold water not only preserves the life of clothes, but can save up to $75 per year on household electric bills and close to 90 pounds per month of carbon dioxide emissions. If all Americans did this, it would be the same as removing 10 million cars from the road. In addition to their electricity consumption, washing machines also account for approximately 21.7 percent of household water use.

Phosphates are a major cause of water pollution that some claim is responsible for over 40 percent of human and animal disease. Though phosphates were banned from laundry detergents in the USA, it is still possible to buy boxes of Tide in certain states with as much as 10 percent phosphorus. In the developing world, phosphates make up as much as 35 percent of laundry detergents; and runoff from these pollutants are responsible for the algae blooms that are suffocating our oceans, lakes and rivers.

China's home appliance giant, Haier, has just released the WasH2O washing machine for about $957. It is the first washing machine of its kind that not only cuts water use by over 50 percent and electricity use by up to 60 percent; but it also eliminates the need for laundry detergent by breaking apart water molecules, thus activating the OH- ions to attract and retain stains and oils.

According to the US Department of Energy, the average American does 148 loads of laundry per year. One 100 ounce bottle of Tide liquid detergent can wash 32 loads and costs $15.10. Therefore it would take almost 5 bottles of Tide per year per person to wash 1 year's worth of clothes. So every American would save enough money from not using laundry detergent to buy a brand new WasH2O washing machine every 13 years or so. However, being that the American household averages 2.64 people and 1 laundry machine, the average household would save enough in laundry detergent expenses to pay off the WasH2O every 5 years.

* * * * *

Nearly all dishwashing detergents have phosphates, though some states are trying to reduce the legal amount of phosphates to 0.5 percent.

In one day, I use an average of 3 plates, 1 bowl, 4 pieces of silverware, 4 glasses, 1 pan, 1 pot, and 2 cooking utensils. For each piece it takes me an average of 4 seconds to rinse and put into the dishwashing machine. So on average, I spend about 1 minute and 4 seconds per day preparing eating utensils for the dishwashing machine. I run an average of 1 load of dishes every week. Putting soap in and running the machine takes me about 7 seconds, thus adding 1 second to my average day of dish duty.

If I rinse every dish and eating utensil, wash with soap by hand, rinse again, and put on the drying rack, my time spent per dish and eating utensil rises from 4 seconds to 8 seconds. So now it takes me 2 minutes and 8 seconds every day to wash my dishes, costing me 1 minute and 3 seconds more per day than using a dishwashing machine. That is just over 6 hours per year.

If the average American washed their dishes by hand, they would save close to $40 per year. Being that it takes about 6 hours per year extra to wash dishes by hand, then it is the same as getting paid $6.66 per hour for your labor. In addition, the average electric dishwasher costs about $400. If the average machine lasts ten years, then washing your dishes without a dishwasher saves you an extra $40 per year that would have been spent on a dishwasher. You just got a 100 percent raise.



Sources:

How to Green Your Dirty Laundry. Greener Penny. August 24, 2008.
http://greenerpenny.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-green-your-dirty-laundry.html.

Haier WasH2O Innovative Washing Machine. Product Reviews. September, 2008.
http://www.product-reviews.net/2007/08/01/haier-wash20-innovative-washing-machine-no-detergent-or-soap-needed/.

Knud-Hansen. Historical Perspective of the Phosphate Detergent Conflict. Conflict Research Consortium, University of Colorado. February, 1994.
http://www.colorado.edu/conflict/full_text_search/AllCRCDocs/94-54.htm.

Phosphorus Pollution. State Environmental Resource Center. October, 2008.
http://www.serconline.org/phosphorus/background.html.

Detergents Under Scrutiny. India Together. October 4, 2008.
http://www.indiatogether.org/environment/articles/tlink-1002.htm.

Project Laundry List. September, 2008.
http://www.laundrylist.org/index.php/faq/35-general-laundry-questions/101-kwh-year-dryer-average.

Carbon Conscious Consumer. September, 2008.
http://c3.newdream.org/.

Hodum, Ryan. Kunming Heats Up as China's "Solar City." World Watch. June 5, 2007.
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5105.

It's time for environmentalists to take an interest in economics; and for economists to take an interest in the environment.

This year alone, Americans will throw away over 100 billion plastic bags. Nearly all plastic bags are made from polyethylene (a petroleum bi-product) and to make 100 billion plastic bags takes nearly 12 million barrels of oil. 12 million barrels of oil can be refined to nearly 240 million gallons of gasoline. And polyethylene bags take nearly 1000 years to break down into their toxic components. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, there is an average of 46,000 pieces of plastic litter floating in every square mile of ocean on the planet. Paper bags take over 4 times as much energy to produce as plastic bags and require about 85 times as much energy to recycle.

At a cost of over 1 penny per bag, Americans are wasting over $1 billion dollars per year. Buying reusable shopping bags eliminates this economic and environmental calamity with a one-time cost of anywhere from $2 for cheap bags to designer bags costing as much as $900 dollars. PlanetFlahive.com is selling hemp shopping bags for $18. Hemp produces about 3 times as much fiber per acre as cotton without the use of pesticides; and while cotton is known for stripping the land of nutrients, hemp naturally fertilizes the soil for future crops. In addition, the cultivation of hemp takes about 100 days whereas cotton trees take between 50 and 70 years to reach full maturity.

Using trash cans unlined with plastic bags take only 1 minute to wash out after dumping!

* * * * *

Salvador's Coffee House in southwest China uses 38, 30-watt incandescent light bulbs in its daily operations. These light bulbs cost about 1 RMB ($.13) each and last for an average of 3 weeks. 5 of the 38 lights are on for an average of 5 hours, using about 750 watt-hours per day. The other 33 lights are on for an average of 16 hours, using about 15,840 watt-hours per day. So in total, these lights use about 16,590 watt-hours, or 16.59 kilowatt-hours (kWh), per day. At .63 RMB per kWh, lighting the 38 bulbs costs about 10.5 RMB per day, 314 RMB per month, 3,800 RMB ($506) per year. 5-watt compact florescent lights (CFLs) cost about 10 RMB ($1.33) each, can last as long as 7 years, and can replace the 38 incandescent bulbs producing nearly the same luminescence and quality of light. By doing so, the daily electricity consumed by these 38 bulbs is cut down to about 2.77 kWh per day, cutting the daily costs down to 1.74 RMB. This saves our business 3,165 RMB ($422) per year.

According to the American Lighting Association, lights account for 25 percent of household electric bills. This year, Ireland became the 1st country in history to pass legislation banning the normal incandescent light bulb, thus promoting the longer-lasting, energy-efficient fluorescents.

* * * * *

Starbucks goes through over 2.3 billion paper cups per year. The average paper cup with lid, graphics, and stirrer comes to about $0.15 per cup. For those who drink a cup a day, they will burn through over $50 per year on non-biodegradable waste. In 2003, Starbucks began offering a 10 cent discount to those who bring their own mugs or take-away reusable cups. This encouraged about 13.5 million customers to bring in their own mugs, thus saving about 586,800 pounds of paper from going to US landfills. Starbucks could save an estimated $1 million per year in packaging costs by encouraging the use of reusable cups and plates.

* * * * *

The average bite of food in America has traveled nearly 1,500 miles. Most foods are transported in semi-tractor trailers that have a maximum capacity of 40,000 pounds according to US law. 40,000 pounds of food is 640,000 bites assuming 1 bite to be equivalent to 1 ounce. A semi-tractor trailer gets an average of about 5.5 miles per gallon, fully loaded. Traveling 1,500 miles at full capacity would burn about 272 gallons of diesel (roughly 34,900 ounces). So that means that every 18 bites of food are chased down with a shot of diesel. At 3.3 dollars per gallon of diesel, shopping locally can save American consumers about 1 penny for every 7 bites.

* * * * *

In a small town in Sicily, refuse disposal has recently shifted from small garbage trucks, which cost around $150,000, to donkey-carts, which cost $1,000. Whereas operational costs for the trucks cost around $12,000 per year, it only costs $3,000 per year to feed the donkey. To equal the amount of exhaust created from 1 garbage truck, 1 donkey would have to have some serious digestive issues.



Sources:

McKibben, Bill. Carbon's New Math. National Geographic. October, 2007. Pp. 33-37.

BBC News. December 7.

Flahive, Colin. Issue 2 – The Tickle Me Elmo Equation. Simple Mathematics. December, 2006. www.simple-mathematics.com.

Weekly Retail On-Highway Diesel Prices. Energy Information Administration. December 17, 2007.
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/wohdp/diesel.asp.

The Throwaway Generation: 25 Billion Styrofoam Cups a Year. The Environmental Magazine. November-December, 2005.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1594/is_6_16/ai_n15895175.

How Much Do Compact Fluorescent Bulbs Really Cost? Get Rich Slowly. October 29, 2007.
http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2007/10/29/how-much-do-compact-fluorescent-bulbs-really-cost/.

Plastic Bags, the Convenient Sack That Never Goes Away. Practical Environmentalist. August 10, 2007.
http://www.practicalenvironmentalist.com/anti-conservation/plastic-bags-the-convenient-sack-that-never-goes-away.htm.

Drowning in a Sea of Plastic Bags. School of Natural Resources and Environment. Fall, 2007.
http://snre.ufl.edu/Pubs&Event/Source/fall07/plastic.html.

Our View on the Environment: Plastic-Bag Ban Full of Holes. USA Today. April 7, 2007.
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/04/post_1.html.

www.planetflahive.com.

The sun, amounting to 99.8 percent of the entire solar system's mass, produces a relatively constant energy output of 386 billion trillion kilowatts. The Earth's ape-like inhabitants use approximately 15 trillion kilowatt-hours per year. Therefore, if 1 second of energy created from the sun could be harnessed, it would be enough to power the earth's cumulative energy demands for 7,148,148 years.

* * * * *

Gas-Powered Sedan: The 2006 Volkswagen Golf GLS TDI gets between 37 and 44 miles per gallon of gasoline depending upon whether it is in the city or on the highway. That means that it burns about .0247 gallons per mile. One gallon of gasoline weighs only about 6 pounds, but when burned produces 19.4 pounds of carbon dioxide. Therefore, the 2006 Volkswagen Golf emits approximately 4.8 pounds of carbon dioxide per ten miles traveled.

Gas-Powered SUV: The 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo 4X4 gets a maximum of 21 miles per gallon of gasoline or .0476 gallons per mile. Therefore, the 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee emits approximately 9.2 pounds of carbon dioxide per ten miles traveled.

Hybrid: The most fuel-efficient, gasoline-powered car in the US is the rather unsightly Honda Insight, a hybrid that gets between 60 and 66 miles per gallon depending on whether it is in the city or on the highway. However, it only seats 2 people. 62.5 miles per gallon is equal to .0157 gallons per mile. Therefore, the Honda Insight emits approximately 3.1 pounds of carbon dioxide per ten miles traveled.

Diesel: In 2010, many European and Japanese automobile companies will introduce their new clean-diesel vehicles to the US. The Diesel Honda Accord will get 62.8 miles per gallon whether in the city or on the highway. It seats 5 people and can run off of bio-diesel as well as regular diesel. Diesel has higher energy content than gasoline and gives automobiles the ability to travel 30% farther on one gallon. The downside is that it takes 25% more unrefined petroleum to make 1 gallon of diesel than it does to make gasoline. 62.8 miles per gallon is equal to .0159 gallons per mile. Every gallon of diesel burned produces 22.2 pounds of carbon dioxide. Therefore, the Diesel Honda Accord will emit approximately 3.5 pounds of carbon dioxide per ten miles traveled.

Bio-diesel: With the combustion of bio-diesel, there is a 50 percent reduction in particulate matter and a 60-90 percent decrease in air toxics such as carbon monoxide. In addition, there are 75 percent less carbon dioxide emissions. However, bio-diesel gets 11 percent less miles per gallon than regular diesel. So in theory, the Diesel Honda Accord run on B100 bio-diesel would get about 55.9 miles per gallon and emit 5.55 pounds of carbon dioxide per gallon. Therefore, the Diesel Honda Accord run on pure bio-diesel would emit approximately 1.0 pound of carbon dioxide per ten miles traveled.

Ethanol: It takes 1.5 gallons of ethanol to travel the same distance as 1 gallon of gasoline. In 2006, the cost of domestic ethanol came to $3.16 per gallon. This means that one would have to pay $4.74 to get the same mileage as 1 gallon of gasoline. In addition, according to the EPA, volatile organic materials such as formaldehyde and ascetic acid produced from ethanol factories are up to 10 times worse than the acceptable amount. Environmentally, emissions from ethanol are quite positive; but in the life cycle of growing corn or sugar cane, producing ethanol and consuming it, the petroleum that goes into the entire procedure only amounts to a total savings in fuel efficiency of 10 percent. So in theory, the Volkswagen Golf run on bio-diesel, would get about 44.6 mpg. Therefore, the vehicle would emit approximately 4.3 pounds of carbon dioxide per ten miles traveled.

Electric: The Tesla Roadster is an electric car that goes 0-60 in 4 seconds. Its top speed is 130 mph with a range of over 200 miles per charge. It has a battery life of about 100,000 miles and receives a full battery charge in 3.5 hours. Its cost is $92,950. The electricity that would power this car comes from over 70% hydrocarbon-producing energy sources in the US and over 80% in China. In addition, due to America's failure to due away with its copper-based electric network, over 10 percent of all electricity generated is lost to resistance in the wires. To fully charge the vehicles battery takes 56 kilowatt-hours of electricity assuming no electricity is lost during plug-in. In 2006, 3.7 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity was consumed in the USA. The production of that electricity emitted approximately 2.3 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide. Therefore, the electric grid that the Tesla Roadster would be plugged into produces about .00062 tons of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour consumed. That means that the 56 kilowatt-hour charge needed to power-up the Tesla Roadster would emit .035 metric tons or 77 pounds of carbon dioxide from the production of electricity. Being that the Tesla Roadster electric car has the ability to travel 200 miles on one charge, it therefore emits approximately 3.7 pounds of carbon dioxide per ten miles traveled.

Hydrogen Fuel Cells: The emissions produced from vehicles using hydrogen fuel is 100 percent water in the form of vapor. However, 95% of America's hydrogen is produced from natural gas. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles can now travel 300 miles on 17.6 pounds of hydrogen or .0588 pounds per mile. Making 1 pound of hydrogen produced from natural gas emits approximately 2 pounds of carbon dioxide. Therefore, a hydrogen fuel cell powered automobile would emit approximately 1.2 pounds of carbon dioxide per ten miles traveled.

Simple Mathematics CO2 Efficiency Ratings
1.0 – Bio-diesel
1.2 – Hydrogen Fuel Cells
3.1 – Hybrid
3.5 – Diesel
3.7 – Electric
4.3 – Ethanol
4.8 – Gas-Powered Sedan
9.2 – Gas-Powered SUV
** (Ratings in pounds of carbon dioxide produced per ten miles traveled.)

* * * * *

Hybrids can result in a 35 percent reduction in CO2 emissions, but fossil fuel consumption is set to rise by 34 percent by 2030. Therefore, it is fairly shortsighted to invest in a 35% solution. And with only a 27% decrease in CO2 emissions clean diesel suffers the same problem.

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, the combustion of B100, or pure bio-diesel, results in about 10 percent more nitrogen oxide emissions (emissions responsible for smog) than do the emissions of regular diesel. However, bio-diesel can be produced from nearly any organic oil which promotes crop rotation and with close to an 80% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, it is a difficult option to ridicule. Ethanol, on the other hand, would require the clear cutting of rainforests for monoculture corn and sugarcane plantations to supply America's demands, and the benefits of ethanol only amount to only a 10% reduction in overall carbon dioxide emissions than do the most efficient gasoline-powered sedans.

Electric powered vehicles amount to a 23% decrease in CO2 emissions and takes the pollution away from the cities and puts it at the power plants; but being that carbon dioxide is a green house gas, it's effects are just as severe no matter where on earth the emissions originate. Carbon dioxide emissions related to electric automobiles completely depends upon where the electricity originates, so an electric automobile charged from 100 percent wind or solar power emits no carbon dioxide at all. In China, it is possible to buy a 3 kilowatt wind turbine for home use that is about the same size as a street lamp and relatively silent for $2,500 which would be more than sufficient to power a Tesla Roadster and just about everything in an average household. In addition, restructuring America's power grid with superconductors would conserve 10 percent more electricity.

Hydrogen fuel cells would lessen CO2 emissions by 75%, but would cost close to $1 trillion just to set up the infrastructure. With improved technology, hydrogen could be a 100% CO2-free solution if it was produced via renewable energy resources. However, with present technologies, it would cost up to $3 trillion. Nuclear power also produces no carbon dioxide emissions, and at present, China is constructing a $300 million nuclear plant that can generate 195 thousand kilowatts and, in theory, is completely protected from meltdowns.

* * * * *

Of EPA Green Power Partners, PepsiCo rates number 1 in use of Green Energy (biogas, biomass, geothermal, small-hydro, wind and solar) with 100 percent of its 1.1 billion kilowatt-hours of energy coming from green. Number 2 is wells Fargo (42%). Number 3 is Whole Foods (100%). Number 4 is the U.S. Air Force, although it only accounts for 4 percent of its over 11 billion kilowatt-hour total energy consumption. The rest of the top 25 green power users includes Johnson & Johnson (39%), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (100%), Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts (57%), Starbucks (20%), DuPont Company (4%), U.S. Department of Energy (3%), Vail Resorts (100%), HSBC North America (35%), Cisco Systems, Inc.(21%), Staples (20%), New York University (100%), The World Bank Group (100%), University of Pennsylvania (29%), IBM Corporation (4%), U.S, Department of Veterans Affairs (3%), Nature Works LLC (89%), Sprint Nextel (47%), Safeway Inc. (2%), Pennsylvania State University (20%), Kohl's Department Store (8%) and Nike, Inc. who uses 72 percent green energy. **

**These rankings are determined by purchase of renewable energy credits (RECs) from the EPA, not direct production-consumption. Fossil fuels cost around .07 cents per kilowatt-hour compared to clean energy costs of .08 cents per kilowatt-hour. RECs allow for clean energies to enter the market and the public electric grid without taking a profit loss.


Sources:

UMD Energy. What are RECs? May, 2007
http://www.umdenergy.org/?page_id=12.

Monohan, Patricia and David Friedman, UCS. Grinning Planet. Diesel or Gasoline? May, 2007.
http://www.grinningplanet.com/2005/04-12/diesel-vs-gasoline-article.htm.

McElroy, Michael B. Harvard Magazine. The Ethanol Illusion. Nov.-Dec., 2006.
http://harvardmagazine.com/on-line/110634.html.

Radich, Anthony. Energy Information Administration. Biodiesel Performance, Costs and Use. May, 2007.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/analysispaper/biodiesel/index.html.

Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum. An Energy Summary of the USA. May, 2007.
http://www.cslforum.org/usa.htm.

Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum. An Energy Summary of China. May, 2007.
http://www.cslforum.org/china.htm.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Emission Facts: Greenhouse Gas Emissions From a Typical Passenger Vehicle. February, 2005.
http://www.epa.gov/otaq/climate/420f05004.htm.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Average Carbon Dioxide Emissions Resulting From Gasoline and Diesel Fuel. February, 2005.
http://www.epa.gov/otaq/climate/420f05001.htm.

CarJunky.com. Motorcycles: A Fuel-Efficient Alternative. March 4, 2007.
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My Drive. A Diesel Honda? That Gets 62.8 Miles a Gallon. April 30, 2007.
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Business Week. The Diesel Armada. May 4, 2007.
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Tesla Motors. The Tesla Roadster. May, 2007.
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Berdichevsky, Gene. Tesla Motors, Inc. The Tesla Roadster Battery System. August 16, 2006.
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Science Daily. Superconducting Wire Achieves Major Milestone. May 10, 2004.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/05/040510014333.htm.

China Daily. Three Gorges Dam Competed. May 21, 2006.
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Schafer, Sarah. Newsweek. China Leaps Forward: The People's Republic is Embarking on the World's Biggest Nuclear Building Spree. February 6, 2006.
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Wise, Jeff. Popular Mechanics. The Truth About Hydrogen. November, 2006. Pp. 83-129.

Suzuki. High Mileage Suzuki. May, 2007
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CBS News. Ethanol Pollution Surprise: EPA Finds Worrisome Levels of Toxic Air Pollutants at Ethanol Plants. May 3, 2002.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/05/03/tech/main508006.shtml.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Green Power Partnership. May, 2007
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Union of Concerned Scientists. Clean Vehicles: Biodiesel. May, 2007
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Energy Information Administration. International Energy Outlook 2006. May, 2007.
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Nine Planets.Org. The Sun. May, 2007.
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Business Week Online. Science and Technology: Another Dawn for Solar Power. September 6, 2004.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_36/b3898119_mz018.htm.

The Year 2006 approaches its end, and there are now 300 million people in the United States of America. Meanwhile, the population of the People's Republic of China continues to climb above 1.3 billion. That is 4.3 times the population of the USA.

The USA presently consumes an average of 20.7 million barrels of petroleum per day. China consumes an average of 6.4 million barrels of petroleum per day. Therefore, the USA consumes 3.2 times as much petroleum as China.

One barrel of crude petroleum is 42 gallons. That means that the average Chinese consumes 1/5th of a gallon of petroleum per day; and the average US American consumes close to 3 gallons per day. That is 15 times as much as the average Chinese.

Refined petroleum breaks down to 51.4% finished motor gasoline, 15.3% distillate fuel oil, 12.6% jet fuel and the rest as still gas, marketable coke, residual fuel oil, liquefied refinery gas, asphalt and road oil, lubricants and other refined products. In the process of refining, one 42-gallon barrel of crude petroleum actually grows to 48.4 gallons of refined petroleum products. So the average US American actually consumes 3.3 gallons of refined petroleum products daily.

If China consumed as much crude petroleum per capita as the USA, they would consume over 89 million barrels per day. Globally, proven petroleum reserves total approximately 1.3 trillion barrels. So if China consumed as much per capita as the USA, then the USA and China combined would consume over 40 billion barrels annually, depleting the world's proven petroleum reserves within 32 years. Accounting for the rest of the countries on the world, proven petroleum reserves would be gone within 20 years.

China presently averages 133 people per automobile. The USA averages about 1.6 people per automobile. That means that China only has approximately 10 million automobiles on the road compared to 187 million automobiles on US American roads. China is expected to account for 18% of the world's future growth in car sales over the next 10 years, and Chinese car makers are among the fastest growing companies in the world.

* * * * *

The USA consumes close to 3.8 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. About 24% of that total electricity is created in coal-fired power plants. China consumes close to 1.8 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. Roughly 75% of that electricity is created in coal-fired power plants. Over 95% of China's coal-fired power plants do not meet the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol; but China is exempt from this as it is considered a developing country.

China's energy demand is expected to grow to 3 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year by 2020. China presently consumes about 28% of the world's coal. Even at such consumption rates, the world's proven coal reserves are estimated to last at least another 155 years. And with over 26% of the world's coal reserves, the USA has the potential to become the next Saudi Arabia.

Of the 20 most polluted cities in the world, 16 are in China. The USA presently emits close to 6 trillion metric tons of carbon dioxide annually from the combustion of fossil fuels. China presently emits close to 4 trillion metric tons of carbon dioxide per year from the combustion of fossil fuels. By 2025, China is expected to emit more carbon dioxide (likely responsible for global warming) and sulfur dioxide (responsible for acid rain) than the USA, Japan, and Canada combined.

In 2005, China's industry for export was valued at $762 billion. China's industry for domestic consumption was valued at $640 billion. That means that in 2005, roughly 55% of industry in China was for foreign consumption.

65% of all primary energy consumption in China is for the industrial sector. So if 55% of the industrial sector is to satisfy foreign consumer demands, then 36% of all energy consumption in China is in the name of foreign countries – mostly developed countries who on their home soil would be obligated to follow the Kyoto Protocol (other than the USA who refused to sign the treaty.)


Sources:

China Population, China Population Information and Research Center. October, 2006.
http://www.cpirc.org.cn/en/eindex.htm

World Petroleum Consumption 1960-2004, Energy Information Administration, Official Energy Statistics from the US Government. October, 2006.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/txt/ptb1110.html

Energy Summary of China, Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum. October, 2006.
http://www.cslforum.org/china.htm

Energy Summary of USA, Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum. October, 2006.
http://www.cslforum.org/usa.htm

The World Factbook, China, Central Intelligence Agency. October, 2006.
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ch.html