Sustainable Lawrence’s Secretary, Jori Fahrenfeld, brings us more updates on the latest emissions statistics, and she reports some surprising numbers in her article below:
The 2020 pandemic year predictably had lower emissions — and now transportation emissions nationwide are back up around 14 percent! 2023 jet fuel consumption increased by 1.6% over 2022. Road traffic volumes in 2023 were up 2.2% over 2022 levels which contributed to a gasoline consumption increase, increases in electric vehicles notwithstanding.
There was a decrease in emissions in the power sector [8%] and a 40% decrease for residential and commercial buildings. However emissions attributed to transportation increased in 2023. The power sector once accounted for the largest amount of carbon emissions due mostly to coal-fired generating stations, it now ranks lower than the industrial and transportation sectors!
In general, at least, the good news is that preliminary 2023 greenhouse gas emissions data indicates the United States matched a 2.4% GDP [Gross Domestic Product] growth with a 1.9% drop in carbon emissions. In the prior two years, GDP growth led to emissions increases.
In the transportation sector, interestingly there are a small number of drivers that travel a disproportionate number of miles impacting the number of vehicle miles traveled. Coltura, a Seattle-based nonprofit had some alarming statistics for American drivers categorized by the amount of fuel consumed, identified as gasoline superusers: 10% of drivers burn 35% of the fuel consumed in the US. These superusers make up 0.24% of the world’s population but use 10.4% of the world’s gasoline – almost as much as all of China!
There was an impressive amount of data used including individual cars and trucks odometer readings, info linking vehicle data and demographics from 110 million households and cellphone and other GPS data tracking 210 million drivers’ individual trips. They then linked the data from the drivers, cars and miles driven.
Superusers’ 1,278 gallons of gasoline had an average cost of $530 a month vs $110/month for non-superusers. More statistics: superusers gas consumption is 4 times as much as median drivers and equals as much gasoline usage as the bottom 70% of drivers combined. Non-superusers average 24 miles of driving a day, superusers drive 116 miles on a weekday and 97 miles on the weekend. Blue-collar workers and people residing in rural areas are overrepresented as well as in certain states [North and South Dakota, and Wyoming]; gasoline superusers make up more than 15% of motorists and consume more than 50% of the gasoline used in those states. More than 61% of gasoline superusers drive an SUV or pickup and get worse fuel economy than other vehicles.
New Jersey has 10.8% superusers or 450,000. The report noted if the superusers made a complete switch to EVs it would reduce the US carbon emissions by more than the emissions from the aviation industry. The long-distance rural driving being done is considered to be a rough market for EVs.
A recent report from an independent energy research group [Rhodium Group, NYC] is the basis for this article.
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