Introduction
It is evident that of all the world countries, United States transportation is the highest consumer of fuel compared to other sources. The transportation sector consumes more than thirteen million sources barrels daily or around two thirds of the United States use of total oil. Fuel is recognized to be a very essential product globally and it has helped raise a rich economy in different parts of the globe especially in countries where they produce oil. This paper intends to look at the various uses of oil in America. The paper will also analyze the problems associated with oil consumption in America and how these problems have been addressed. Slowly by slowly gears are shifting in America towards a vastly greater and effective ways og gasoline use in transportation of automotive. Since the year 2005, consumption of oil has fallen to 9% in the United States. The economy of fuel in new vehicles which are sold in the United States went higher by twenty three per gallon in 2005 and this means that the impacts of these developments and domestic production boost means that imports of oil have decreased by thirty one percent.
It is said that Americans are paying a lot of money for gasoline more than they have ever paid before. This is known to be a total contradiction which is highly driven by prices of oil set on the global market as America starts to cut back. However, it is also claimed that in India and China the demand is also going rapidly. Add on OPEC inscrutable decisions and America will be heard spending not less than sixty five percent more on gasoline since the year 2005 despite its leaner ways. It is feared that due to downtown part of United States connected to the weak economy, the problem might get worse when demand rebounds and there is recovery in the economy.
Problem Identification
Of all the sources of energy used in transportation oil is said to account for more than ninety five percent in the United States. This is evident that for every driven mile oil powers and lots of miles are driven in America. There are more than two hundred and fifty trucks and cars in U.S today which travel for about three million miles per year which are enough miles capable of making more than fourteen thousand round trip voyages towards the sun. There is a big problem in consumption of oil in transportation industry and it is worrying the Americans. The high amount of travelling combined with our almost full total reliance on petroleum as a source of fuel means that annually 5 billion oil barrels should be obtained in America in order to meet the high needs of system of transportation. The higher problem is that in years to come the number of miles and vehicles is expected to become higher and it is obvious that only some foreign countries and some companies benefit from this and everybody else loses. There is a big concern on this matter and many claim that there is a cleaner and better way to provide power to the transportation system of Americans.
Analysis of Fuel Consumption Event that Posed as a Challenge to the Management
Production of oil has downsides highly without a matter of where it happens and these problems can only get worse since oil is becoming more difficult and more costly to buy. It clear that discovery of mostly the clean and easy oil in the globe has already been done and it has been extracted thus forcing America and the rest of the world to mostly rely on the dangerous dirty and expensive sources in order to meet the oil needs. This is a trend that has already affected our environment thus bringing serious consequences to our environment and our health as well. In the year 2010, the world history of oil spill was created in Mexico after they did deepwater drilling. More global warming emissions have been generated by the oil which is produced in Canada’s tar sand.
However, America has been faced by a big problem concerning fuel consumption in transportation industry. Currently, the United States and other parts of the world are very worried of what will be described of Fossil Fuel economy. In America the trains, planes and automobiles are exclusively fueled by products of petroleum like diesel and gasoline. It is said that oil, coal and gas is also used in power plants in high percentage but not as highly as in transportation industry.
Fig. 1.0. Showing Power Production in U.S
The Government of America is becoming highly concerned with the problem of fuel consumption in America with fear that they might not be able to cater for the high demand in future. In 2010, a report was released in United States by Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on obesity increase which was being related to people purchasing larger cars which lead to an increase of consumption of gasoline and increase in fuel consumption with extra weight in cars either from cargo or from people.
Entrepreneur.com produced a detailed report giving a good analysis on the increase in fuel consumption as a result of heavy vehicles. One major finding stated that per year, one million gasoline gallons can be associated with weight gain in passengers in private vehicles between the years 1960-2002. This gives a seven percent translation of the total fuel used annually by passenger vehicles. According to researchers, an estimate that is over thirty nine million gallons of fuel is generally used every year for a added pound in weight of standard passenger. It is well-known that while this is rather small taking into account other factors such as more public on the roads, it is still a large said to be a large amount of fuel that will carry on to grow as the rate of obesity increases.
A nonprofit company Resources for the Future made a study in 2009 and looked at the connection between the vehicle demand and obesity and found certain results such as from 1999 to 2005 fuel economy of vehicles which are new reduced by 2.5 percent by ten percent increase in obese and overweight drivers. The report noted that as the percentage of SUVs, pickups and vans increased with 16 percent starting the year 1970 to up to date forty percent so did the obesity and overweight rates increased. It is also noted that increase in obesity has led to an increase in crashes and this is as a result of certain facts such as the lack of obese driver’s lack of attention in buckling up seat belts since they may not be fitting properly.
Risk Management Process
The American government had to access the problem of fuel consumption in transportation industry in order to provide also a cleaner and better way to give more power to the America transportation system. The government realized the importance of increasing use of clean biofuels and thus creating advanced vehicles of the current and coming generation that do not necessarily rely on oil and thus decrease the high reliance on the petroleum fuel. The government also realized the need to improve fuel efficiency on the trucks and cars and this can dramatically reduce the oil amount that America needs. The government has also recognized the need for solutions in smart transportation that will help reduce the consumption of oil, improve quality of air and decrease emissions of global warming. In order to accomplish this, the government of United States has advocated for a more diverse strategy of transportation focusing in three major areas:
- Increase fuel consumption
- Produce clean biofuels
- Invest in advanced technologies of vehicles that will no longer rely exclusively on oil
These strategies will realistically provide the foundation for a more practical and realistic savings plan in national oil that will help United States of America cut the consumption in half within the next coming years.
Increase Fuel Efficiency
American government discovered that fuel technologies and clean vehicles can reduce the oil amount normally used daily in transportation dramatically and help slash the consumption of oil, the consumers save billions of dollars from the gas pump and thus enable the country to move towards a safer, cleaner future transportation thus enabling America cut the projected use of oil for the next twenty years. The government worked towards improving the fuel economy of the nation’s vehicle which gave them an opportunity to reduce the pollution of global warming, consumption of oil and these were accomplished by the help of the federal policy. American government created strong emission standards and strong policies on fuel which helped drive innovation of technology, increase the demand of consumers and increase the fuel efficient numbers drastically.
Produce Clean Biofuels
The vast majority of American fuel accounts from petroleum. In order to reduce the high level of fuel consumption in America the government encouraged the use of biofuels which enabled the m to acquire a cleaner and better alternative that has enabled provision of more than ten percentage of the needs of fuel for the people in the United States of America. The United States market is currently dominated by corn based ethanol which the government introduced in order to reduce high fuel consumption in the transportation sector. However, the corn based ethanol has produced an efect which is arther considered minimal on the reduction of the overall emissions while at the same time impacting the environment and the supplies of food negatively. Due to this the government has also tried to introduce better options such as cellulosic biofuels which are made of garbage, wood and grass. In oreder to ensure that these kind of biofuels have become a reality, the UCS recently were able to lainch the Billion Gallon Challenge.
Investment in Advanced Vehicle Technology
The third known strategy used by the government of United States in order to try applying and reducing fuel consumption in the industry of transport include encouraging consumers to rather invest in advanced vehicle technologies. This is a strategy that has seemd to work really well for the country and the fuel consumption is currently said to reduce. Most of the technologise which are being encouraged are electric, hybrid and fuel cell technologies. The most used in the american transport sector is electric whereby the country has achieved the opportunity of introducing electric trains. These trains have highly come to market after fisrt being introduced in China and they are said to offer a long term solution to reduce the consumption of oil and emissions of global warming in America. A demonstration by the UCS on the high potential of Model Electri Vehicle Plans has been launched. This model uses also existing technologies in the illustration of the feasibility of a future of low carbon vehicle. Greater efficiency is expected by the American government introducing more advanced technologies to give greater gains of efficiency.
Support Smart Policy
United States oil consumption has also been significantly reduced by the technology of clean vehicle and this has only been made to happen due to the governments policies. In order to help in accomplishing of this strategy the advocates of UCS on the federal and state levels funds the next generation vehicles and advanced biofuels development in order to implement the standard of global warming pollution and a strong efficiency in national oil and thus enable to take America in an ultimate future free from oil.
Other Problems of Oil Consumption in America
Global Warming: When emissions of heat trapping and carbon dioxide released into the air they generally hold heat in the atmosphere and warm the planet since they act like a blanket. They overload the atmosphere with carbon and this is said to have high effects for people all over the environment. Human activity is however said to be the reason why the earth is warming. The water and food supply is generally put at risk by the disruptions in climate thus going further as to endanger our health, threaten the general basic needs of humans and jeopardize our security nationally. Some impacts are increasingly becoming very common in our environment and also globally. Such impacts include the melting glaciers, severe flooding, droughts and high temperature records. It is evident that the impacts are getting more serious by day since so far our leaders fail to act fast in order to reduce heat trapping emissions.
In order to prevent the well being of the economy for the future and current generation from effects of emissions of heat trappings which are generally caused by burning coal, oil and gas in order to generate electricity, fuel our businesses and drive our cars and also protect our health, there is a lot that needs to be done. United States is said to be at crossroads. They can act responsibly by seizing certain opportunities to lead through developing new solutions of innovations and also put into use immediately the many solutions which are practical and which we have at our disposal in today’s world. Otherwise, they can also choose to ignore and do nothing thus deal with serious consequences in later days. At UCS they have adapted a belief that it’s time to move forward and make a better, brighter and cleaner future.
Solutions of Global Warming
Who can reduce the emissions of global warming? Together we can. The efforts of each one of us are very essential but the biggest climate change impact will definitely develop from large scale changes which are well reasoned nationally, internationally and regional policies such as systematic, thoughtful efforts to reduce sources of fossil fuel energy pollution and unsound practices of land use and thus create a steady progress towards sustainable and green future.
Air Pollution: When gasoline is burned by vehicles they will ideally do it in a perfect way and thus create nothing but water and carbon dioxide in their exhaust. Unfortunately, it is evident that internal combustion engine is not perfect and in the process of gasoline being burnt it will produce nitrogen oxides (the main smog source), Carbon monoxide (a poisonous gas) and unburned hydrocarbons (the main urban ozone source). Much of this pollution is however eliminated by catalytic converters though they are claimed not to be so perfect. However, it is evidently known worldwide that air pollution from power plants and cars is a problem in cities.
Environmental Solution: There is a big impact in the storage and transportation of oil in the environment especially if anything goes wrong. A huge mess can be easily created by explosion of a pipeline, soil spill or well fire. The best known example is the Exxon Valdex spill though minor spills are also said to happen every now and then.
Dependence: It is evident even to the above research that United States and most of other countries cannot produce enough oil to meet the high demand and therefore they end up importing from countries which are rich from oil. This is seen to create economic dependence. When oil producers from Middle East decide to raise oil prices, the rest of the globe has no other choice but to pay the price.
In Conclusion, fuel consumption is a very critical matter that affects the world today. United States is said to have the highest number of fuel consumption in manufacturing industries and transportation industries. However, a huge problem has been seen to lie in the transport industry where the Americans are said to use a lot of fuel annually more than the government can provide. This has been seen to be a serious problem of fuel consumption in the country and thus the government had to carry out various strategies in order to reduce the risk and help consumers save more.
References
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Pearson Education. (2007, n.d.). Motor Vehicle Fuel Consumption and Travel in the U.S., 1960–2006. Retrieved March 3, 2013, from infoplease.com: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004727.html
Project America. (2009, June 16). Transportation: Cars: Average Fuel Consumption per car. Retrieved March 3, 2013, from Project America: http://www.project.org/info.php?recordID=383
Union of Concerned Scientists. (2012, April 30). Cars, Trucks, and Oil Use. Retrieved March 3, 2013, from Union of Concerned Scientists: http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicles/why-clean-cars/oil-use/
VLASIC, B. (2012, August 29). U.S. Sets Higher Fuel Efficiency Standards. Retrieved March 3, 2013, from New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/29/business/energy-environment/obama-unveils-tighter-fuel-efficiency-standards.html?_r=0
