Our Energy and Climate Predicament by the Numbers

The World's Biggest Appetite

The US is home to 4% of the world's population.

The US uses 1/4 of the world's oil.

The World's Thirstiest Cars

The average fuel economy of a car sold in the US in 1974 was 13.8 miles per gallon.

In 1989 it was 27.5 miles per gallon.

In 2008 it is 24.5 miles per gallon.

In 2020 it will be 35 miles per gallon.

In Europe today, it is 44 miles per gallon.

In 2012 it will be 48 miles per gallon.

The World's Most Expensive Habit

The price of a barrel of oil in 2004 was $37.

Today, it is $145.

The Addiction is Growing Steadily

US oil consumption in 1980 was 17 million barrels a day.

In 1990 it was the same. (Auto fuel economy reached its peak in 1989.)

In 2000, it was 19.7 million barrels a day.

In 2007, it was 21 million barrels a day.

The World Energy Menu

Total global fossil fuel consumption in 2008

Oil: 31 billion barrels

Coal: 6 billion tons

Natural Gas: 100 trillion cubic feet

Released into the World in 2008

400 quadrillion BTUs of energy

30 billion tons of CO2.

• 1/3 of the CO2 is absorbed by the oceans, acidifying them
• 1/4 of the CO2 is absorbed by terrestrial ecosystems
• The rest of CO2 remains in the atmosphere

Without Climate Action, In the Next 4 or 5 Decades

Concentrations of atmospheric CO2 will reach 550 parts per million, 2x pre-industrial levels

Global temperatures will increase 3 or more degrees.

15-30% of the planet's species will be threatened

Sea levels will rise by several feet

Crop yields will decline

The water supply of more than a billion people dependant on glacial runoff or seasonal snow melt will dwindle.

Hundred year droughts will occur once a decade.

Please read the sources from where these statistics were lifted. The first -- American Energy Policy, Asleep at the Switch (NYT) -- chronicles the missed opportunities of the past three decades.

The second --The Island in the Wind (New Yorker) -- tells the story of the Danish island of Samso.

.....the island’s efforts are most significant. Samsø transformed its energy systems in a single decade. Its experience suggests how the carbon problem, as huge as it is, could be dealt with, if we were willing to try.

What are we waiting for?

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