All of us have seen gas prices increase in the last few months or so, and it is projected to continue increasing to approximately $2.00 per gallon by late July, 2000. The United States hesitated to use our Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to levy the increase in prices due to oil import interruption from our suppliers. This should raise some questions among American citizens and citizens of the World - Will there be enough petroleum to sustain the infrastructure of our cities for the upcoming future, and if yes, for how long? Such questions should be addressed with serious considerations. This site will give you a picture of where cities of the World are heading today in terms of Transportation Congestion (Pollution) and Energy Consumption. After browsing through this site, I will leave it up to you to come up with an answer to the question that we have all yearned an answer for- What can we do to improve our cities' future sustainability?
Energy
Consumption
Petroleum supplies about 97% of the energy used in transportation in the form of gasoline, diesel fuel, or other light oils (USDOE 1998b). Because of the oil crisis during the 1970s, the United States have built what is now known as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in 1975. This oil reserve is there for emergency use in case of interruptions or shortages. There are four deep storage caverns, all line the Gulf of Mexico Coast Line- two each in Texas and Louisiana. They were designed to last 20 years. According to the Secretary of energy, Bill Richardson, much of the surface equipment have been upgraded beginning in 1993 to boost efficiency in operations of these sites for the total cost of $328 million. The SPR currently holds 570 million barrels of crude oil but has the capacity to store an extra 130 million barrels.
The current abundance of petroleum cannot be assured in the future according to the Transportation Statistics Annual Report 1999. This report also indicates that over half the petroleum used in the United States must now be imported - for example, Venezuela is the largest supplier of oil to the United States with, 17% of all its imports; the Persian Gulf nations make up another 18%, and all OPEC members supply a total of 45% (USDOE 1998b). The volume of petroleum imports have exceeded domestic production since 1994 and still increasing, therefore the potential economic damages could be enormous.
Alternative Forms of Energies
Hydro-electric/Electric Power
Natural Gas
Nuclear
Transportation
Transportation continues to be the primary source of pollutants that affect air quality: carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds. Fuel consumption by mobile sources also results in a large percentage of the key hazardous air pollutants released in urban and rural areas of nations world wide. Highway vehicles account for about 80% of total transportation energy use and 84% of transportation petroleum consumption. (USDOE 1998b and USDOT BTS).
Transportation Energy Use by Mode: 1997
Cars
and Light-Duty Trucks - 63%
Heavy-Duty
Trucks and Buses - 18%
Air
- 08%
Water
- 05%
Pipeline
- 03%
Rail
- 02%
Transit
- 01%
As you can see from the table above, the primary mode of transportation is indeed not Public Transportation but instead private-owned cars and light trucks. In 1988, 10.37 million cars and 4.74 million light trucks were sold; and in 1997, 8.26 million cars and 6.53 million trucks sold. This adds to the ever present pollution problem that worsens everyday in cities like Los Angeles, New York City, Mexico City, and many more in developing countries. Pollution and traffic congestion have great devastation on the quality of life. People's health have also been seen to be negatively affected due to the effects of volatile chemicals, and compounded stress from a simple task such as driving to and from work.
We have proposed measures such as public transportation
systems to decrease congestion and pollution. However, in terms of
energy consumption, do not expect it to go down because transit buses consumes
MORE energy than cars due to their frequent stop-and-go cycles.
As a society, we have a responsibility to ourselves
and others, whether or not this responsibility has to do with personal
freedom/rights, economy, security, health, or quality of life. We
are also responsible for the future of our cities, to ensure the sustainability
of life for later generations. What I have given you above are only
two of thousands of major concerns that we are currently facing.
Our energy resources are being depleted faster than they can be replenished
due to accelerated population growth around the world - tropical rain forests
are plundered for their timber and land space for human civilization to
expand, oil reserves are being consumed faster everyday following the ever
increasing privatization of transportation as a necessity. This in
turn increases pollution.
Nevertheless, these are not problems that we cannot correct! Transportation has been improving with developing technology. For example, the electric car, or the hybrid-internal combustion engine. We have found use of other energy resources besides petroleum such as nuclear energy, hydro-electric power, alcohols, and natural gases. These resources of energy, will not only reduce pollution dramatically, but will also last because they are much more abundant in quantity and are more efficient as sources. For example, nuclear energy only cost a fraction of conventional hydro-electric power. The fuel do not need replenishing for years, and the waste is only a small fraction of that from a power plant that utilizes coal for fuel.
I hope from browsing this site, you yourself have gained some insights into extent and magnitude of the problems that we all are facing as a whole. I personally think that, with the improvements that we are trying to make today, through cooperation with other nations, we can defeat these challenges. So hope fully our energy consumption are planned so that it will at least last until we can colonize Mars or the Moon as a new home. =) =) =).
NOTE: The links from the previous page will provide you with much more detailed information about the issues that I've discussed on this site. Click on the Flag or "Home" to go back! Remember to check them out!
