Matters of Scale - Driving Up CO2
Minimum average fuel efficiency required by law for light trucks, including minivans and "sport utility vehicles," Sold in the U.S. | 20.7 miles per gallon |
The actual average fuel efficiency of these vehicles sold this year by Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors | 20.2 miles per gallon |
| | |
Amount General Motors and several other auto-oriented corporations were fined after being found guilty of conspiring to monopolize the transportation industry by buying up rail systems in 83 U.S. cities and dismantling them | 5000 |
Amount it would cost to rebuild these rail systems today | 300000000000 |
| | |
The combined 1995 population of Africa, Asia, Oceania, and Central and South America, which that year had a total of 200 million motor vehicles | 4.40 billion |
The 1995 population of the United States, which also had a total of 200 million motor vehicles | 0.27 billion |
| | |
Area of the United States paved over by roads and parking lots | 153,730 square kilometers |
Combined area of all U.S. National Parks | 191,501 square kilometers |
| | |
Ratio of bicycles to cars in China | 250.0 to 1 |
Ratio of bicycles to cars in the United States | 0.7 to 1 |
| | |
Amount of carbon dioxide that a car getting 27.5 miles per gallon emits over 100,000 miles | 31,752 kilograms |
Amount of carbon dioxide that a human walking that same distance would produce | 59 kilograms |
| | |
Sources: Noelle Knox, Detroit News, March 2, 1997. Jim Klein and Martha Olson, Auto-Free Times, Winter 1996-1997. American Automobile Manufacturers Association, World Motor Vehicle Data, 1997 ed. (Detroit, MI: 1997). Jane Holtz Kay, Asphalt Nation, (New York, Crown Publishers: 1997). Steve Nadis and James MacKenzie, Car Trouble, (Boston, Beacon Press: 1993). Human CO2 estimates: Jason Archibald.