America is the land of the automobile. This country has
only 6 percent of the world’s population but 46 percent of the world’s cars.
Right now, there are 97 million privately owned ears consuming 75 billion
gallons of gasoline and traveling an estimated 1000 billion miles a year. The
figures also affirm something we know every time we refill our gasoline tank.
The automobile is a very thirsty piece of technology. Of the total petroleum
supply in the United States, 30 percent goes to quench that thirst. Every year
for each passenger car, about 800 gallons of gasoline are consumed.
Other aspects of our commitment to the automobile also bear mentioning
here. It takes a great deal of energy to manufacture one automobile about 150
million BTU’s of energy. This is equivalent to 1200 gallons of gasoline, enough
to run a car for about 16000 miles. We expend energy in the process of shipping
cars from factories to showroom, displaying them for sale and making replacement
parts for repairs. One out of six jobs in the nation is associated with the
automobile business. About two gallons of gasoline are consumed in the process
of making every ten gallons that are pumped into an automobile’s gas
tank. Building highways and parking lots has used up much of
our land. It has been estimated that we have paved over 21000 square miles of
this country’s surface, most of it to accommodate the automobile. The automobile
is also the largest contributor to our nation’s air pollution problem and a very
serious one because most of its pollutants are emitted in our large metropolitan
areas. Aside from the great impact that would occur if everyone
seriously practiced conservation, one should stop and think about his own casual
use of the automobile: There are numerous situations where better planning and
awareness could really make a difference in energy saving and dollars. Because
the automobile uses the largest percentage of energy in an average American
family’s energy budget and almost half of the dollars, the impetus for savings
is tremendous. Most people also realize that
A. there is a slight increase in the expense of car shipping
B. the manufacture of the automobile requires much energy
C. Americans have paid too much to their car displays
D. oil resources in the world could someday be used up