Transcript Pollution
Energy Use in the USA Energy Use in the USA • The United States of America is the world's largest energy producer, consumer, and net importer of energy. How? Why? – Trends in energy consumption – Social explanations – Current situation Top World Oil Consumers, 2006 (thousand barrels per day) (www.EIS.gov) 22500 20000 17500 15000 12500 10000 7500 5000 2500 0 United States China Japan Russia Ger. India Canada Brazil South Korea Saudi Arabia Energy Consumption: Total energy consumption per capita Units: Kilograms of oil equivalent (kgoe) per person World Resources Institute: Earth Trends 8000 7500 7000 6500 6000 5500 5000 4500 4000 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 USA Czech Germany UK France China Japan Russia Poland History of US energy use by source (quadrillion BTU) Attitudes towards energy use • The “American Dream” • Environmentalism • Responsible Consumerism The “American Dream” • Current concept has roots in 1950's • Any one can “make it” - regardless of background • House in the suburbs, two cars • Electricity consumption by 107 million U.S. households in 2001 totaled 1,140 billion kWh. The most significant end uses were central air-conditioning and refrigerators, each of which accounted for about 14 percent of the U.S. Total. ( The automobile • 84% of travel in USA by car • Fuel efficiency has not traditionally been important to American consumers • SUV's Passenger vehicles in the US • According to the US Bureau of Transit Statistics for 2004 there are 243,023,485 registered passenger vehicles in the US Passenger Vehilces in the USA cars trucks/SUV's 6-wheel trucks motorcycles Fuel consumption of US cars (www.bts.gov) 20 18 16 L/100km 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 year 1990 1995 2000 2004 Environmentalism • Modern environmentalism began in 1962 with Rachel Carson's Silent Spring • Anti-pollution legislation • Postenvironmentalism? Pollution • 1963 Clean Air Act • 1990 – amendment to the clean air act began system of carbon trading. • 1997: The US signs the Kyoto protocol -but never ratifies the treaty – Some state and local governments have Acquisitions of “alarmism” • The “greatest hoax in history” • According to one poll about 64% of Americans think that scientists disagree about whether global warming is happening (they don't) A convenient approach The environmental consumer • Save the environment without sacrificing quality of life: – New energy-saving appliances, light bulbs – Carbon offsets – Hybrid cars – Supporting “green” companies Energy per dollar of GDP/PPP