Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Less Than 25% in US, 4% in World
I can't tell you how many times I've been in a conversation with someone about greenhouse gases or climate change or pollution or alternative energy (etc) over the past 12 months or so.
Often I hear people start yammering on about how we need to fix cars in order to get a handle on greenhouse gases. And I always postulate that the effects of cars is probably a lot less than they think. Nonetheless, I have never had a number to use to back myself up.
According this article, cars, trucks, and big rigs (ie: everything that drives on the road) only account for ~24% of our greenhouse gas pollution in the USA, and only ~4% of the world's greenhouse gas pollution. These are 2006 numbers.
Clearly there are many other categories (industrial production, heating/cooling, etc) where we are polluting much more than we are with cars. Reducing our pollution from transportation is going to help, but I think there are bigger gains to be had elsewhere first. Just my opinion.
