Who uses all the gasoline in the U.S.?

[Robb]

I've been looking all over with no success... does anyone know about percentages of total petroleum use nationwide, in terms of passenger vehicles vs. trucking vs. industry, and so on?

My gut tells me that maybe pushing for more efficient private passenger vehicles may not be attacking as big a piece of the pie as we think, but again I have no idea. :shrug:

[Chico Man]

1. I think airlines use a lot of fuel as well

But I have no idea what the percentage is.

[IrateCitizen]

2. Don't forget the military

Quite possibly the biggest reason for our overwhelming dependence on petroleum.

[radwriter0555]

3. POWER PLANTS are the largest users of fossil fuels in the USA..

and since China and India are fast becoming hubs of production and industry, their power plants will soon too be massive users, hence the need for the iraqi fuels.

[Robb]

4. My gut agrees with you

...but why am I having so much trouble finding a simple chart with percentages of total use?

(on edit): Another one: I've heard that the printing industry is the third-largest consumer of petroluem products in the US!!

[radwriter0555]

5. It's all right here. Heavy reading though...

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/usa.html

[radwriter0555]

6. More info here, in bits and pieces...

http://www.inventati.org/consumocritico/crisienergetica/rapporto_energia_USA_2002.pdf

[radwriter0555]

7. But here, cryptically, is the most solid piece of info,

Petroleum and Electricity Lead Growth in Energy Consumption

Consumption of petroleum products, mainly for transportation, makes up the largest share of primary energy use in the AEO2004 forecast (Figure 47). Growth in energy demand for transportation averaged 2.0 percent per year in the 1970s but was slowed in the 1980s by rising fuel prices and new Federal efficiency standards that led to a 2.1-percent annual increase in average vehicle fuel economy. Fuel economy gains are projected to slow as a result of stable fuel prices and the absence of new standards. Growth in population and travel per capita is expected to increase demand for gasoline over the forecast.


http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/demand.html

[Cleita]

8. I have always thought that.

It's like in Los Angeles back in the fifties when we regularly had red smog alerts. Cars were being blamed and yes they can create pollution and did lead to cleaner air standards for vehicles. But, anyone who ever entered LAX on an airplane couldn't miss the plumes of black smoke coming from the oil refineries. Eventually, some of the political power brokers clamped down on that industry and many others to clean up their act and air pollution finally declined.

So, shipping, trucking, airplanes, the military and power companies consume oil too and I don't think it's getting the attention it deserves. I think if residential electric use was switched to solar and other alternate forms of clean energy, and if hybrid cars became the norm, it would go a long way in cutting down our dependence on oil, however the other industries would still be demanding more.

[dawgman]

16. Some info about refineries.

Threats posed at each stage of the oil lifecycle include:
Extraction: Occupationally-related fatalities among workers in the oil and gas extraction processes are higher than deaths for workers from all other US industries combined. Oil well workers risk injury and chronic disease from exposure to chemicals such as cadmium, arsenic, cyanide, lead and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
Oil Transport: Many leaks and spills occur in developing nations where pipeline and oil rig safety regulations are inadequately enforced, posing particularly high threats to local environments and human communities.

Refining: Refinery workers' health is threatened through accidents and from cancer (leukemia), associated with exposure to petroleum by-products such as benzene. Again, these threats are even greater in developing nations and poor communities where labor, safety, emissions standards and environmental laws are lacking or weakly enforced.
Combustion: Chemical and particulate air pollution are related to heart and lung disease (chronic obstructive lung disease and asthma) and premature death. Acid rain leaches lead, copper and aluminum into drinking water and climate change caused by excess carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are associated with more extreme weather events and the spread of infectious diseases.

http://www.med.harvard.edu/chge/oilpress.html

www.med.harvard.edu/chge/oilreportex.pdf
Oil Refining

• Oil, by-products and chemicals used in the refining process
cause chemical, thermal, and noise pollution.

• Oil refining affects the health and safety of refinery workers
through accidents and from chronic illness (e.g., leukemia)
associated with exposure to petroleum and its by-products
(e.g., benzene).

• Petroleum refineries present major health hazards for human
communities living near refineries, and for marine and terres-
trial ecosystems where they are situated.

• Gasoline and many of its additives can lead to acute and
chronic toxicity, and is associated with some types of cancer.

• Groups at high risk for exposure to gasoline and its additives
include: employees in the distribution, storage and pumping of
gasoline; people living near refineries, transfer and storage
facilities, and service stations; automobile drivers who pump
their own gas; people who live in houses with attached
garages; and those whose drinking water has been contaminat-
ed with gasoline.

Combustion: Air Pollution

• Gas flaring at the point of extraction is a source of air pollu-
tion.

• The additives and products of oil combustion, VOCs, NOxs,
SOxs, CO, CO2, PM-10s, PM-2.5s and Pb (definitions below),
have numerous environmental and human health impacts.

• Chemical and particulate air pollution are related to heart
and lung disease (chronic obstructive lung disease and asthma)
and premature death.

• NOxs and VOCs combine to form ground level ozone (O3)
or photochemical smog.

• This reaction is temperature-dependent; thus warming
increases the formation of photochemical smog and may
reverse gains made in attaining ground level ozone standards.

• Subsequent to the 1970 Clean Air Act, the US has made sub-
stantial efforts towards controlling air pollution. However,
studies demonstrate that even allowable levels of many of the
pollutants result in significant negative health effects.
Combustion: Acid Rain

• Acids formed from oxides of nitrogen (NOxs) and sulfur
(SOxs) acidify all forms of precipitation.

• The anticipated recovery of acidified soils appears to be a
longer, more protracted process than originally projected, as
the depletion of minerals (calcium and magnesium) persists
even after correction of soil acidity.

• Calcium and magnesium deficiencies in soils harm plants
and animals.

• Acidification leaches lead, copper and aluminum into drink-
ing water.

• NOxs from oil combustion (along with sewage and fertiliz-
er runoff) cause eutrophication of lakes, estuaries and marine
coasts.

• Eutrophication (excessive nitrogen and phosphorus) con-
tributes to harmful algal blooms in inland waters and coastal
"red tides" that contaminate seafood, and leads to biologically
unproductive "dead zones".

Combustion: Climate Change

• Over the past 150 years, human activities - including the
combustion of fossil fuels and land clearing - have altered the
levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases; the most important
being carbon dioxide.

• CO2 levels are now greater than they have been for 420,000
years and they are rising.

• Land surfaces and the deep ocean are warming, altering
Earth's ice cover, accelerating the hydrological (water) cycle
and changing global weather patterns.

• Droughts are becoming more severe and persistent, adding
to the depletion of fresh water supplies in water-stressed areas,
and increasing the vulnerability of agricultural resources.

• Melting of permafrost threatens the integrity of northern lat-
itude pipelines.

• Warming and the accompanying extreme weather events
threaten health, forests and marine coastal ecosystems.

Compounds
NOxs - Oxides of Nitrogen
SOxs - Oxides of Sulfur
H2S - Hydrogen Sulfide
CO - Carbon Monoxide
CO2 – Carbon Dioxide
PM-10s - Particulate matter with
a diameter of 10 microns or less
PM-2.5s - Particulate matter with
a diameter of 2.5 microns or less
Pb – Lead
PAHs - Polycyclic Aromatic






http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:7EQEP6F91n4J:www.med.harvard.edu/chge/oilreportex.pdf+environmental+impact+refineries+oil+harvard&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

[sweetheart]

17. yet it was neither

it was the burning of trash and fires in LA that made the impenetrable smoke that even today's worst smog alert can't compare to. If you have an old house in LA, likely there is an antique trash incinerator out back that has not been used for 40 years.

Cars wuz part of it, but fires was a huge part.

[donsu]

9. add race tracks to the list

nt

[PVnRT]

10. Racing fuel

Uses a mixture of ethanol and gasoline, not straight gasoline. So, while they do use a lot, it's not quite as much as a lot of people think.

[jmowreader]

13. It depends on the series

Methanol-burning series:
Indy Racing League
Championship Auto Racing Teams
World of Outlaws
All Monster Truck series

Pure gasoline-burning series:
All stock car series--NASCAR, ARCA, ASA, local circuits
Motorcycle racing series
Minor-league drag racing
Midget-racing series besides World of Outlaws

Mixed-fuel series:
NHRA and IHRA--some gasoline, some methanol, some nitromethane. Exhibition cars run on jet fuel.
Boat racing, except Unlimited hydroplanes--mostly gas, some alcohol and nitromethane.
Tractor pulling--lots of gas, some methanol, and even some diesel. This series has a "maximum weight" instead of a "minimum weight."

Jet fuel-burning series:
Unlimited hydroplanes

[ElsewheresDaughter]

11. i read somewhere once that it was the US Military that guzzles most of US

gasoline...even in peacetime
The US military uses roughly $3.6 billion worth of fuel each year...

Since 9/11, the pipeline industry has adopted new security measures to protect the nation's fuel supply lines, including a trunk line along the East Coast holding and moving one-fourth of the U.S. daily consumption at a time.

Pittsburgh International Airport receives jet fuel through underground pipelines. You'll have to take my word for it. I'm not going to say how many or where.

Courtesy of the Association of Oil Pipe Lines, I also thought you'd like to know:

Less than one teaspoon is lost for every barrel (42 gallons) of petroleum product moved every 1,000 miles through the underground pipeline network.

The "shipping cost" for moving a gallon of gasoline from a Houston refinery to New York City is 3 cents.

More than 100 Air Force, Army, Marine Corps and Navy installations in the United States have direct connections to the interstate pipeline network.

The U.S. military uses roughly $3.6 billion worth of fuel each year. Jet fuel for the military and commercial airlines passes through several special filtering processes in order to keep it pure.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

12. 1 commercial airplane just for 1 lift off is equal 15,000 cars 24 hours ..

with motors running.......now multiply that liftoff by 32,000 liftoffs a day in the US alone

30,000 commercial airplane take off daily from US airports

edit: oh wait.... these figures were related to exhaust/pollution and greenhouse gases not fuel consumption....

[camero]

14. The biggest user is intra-industry trade

Yep, free trade is our largest user of oil.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=996500

The link will show the damage.

[gbwarming]

15. EIA has the data scattered about their site

Takes a lot of digging though to get the big picture.

Edit to add: Gasoline is a big slice of the petroleum pie ~8 million barrels/day of a total ~20mmbd. There are vehicles besides passenger vehicles that use gasoline (boats, small aircraft, lawnmowers, etc) but I think these are pretty small. Essentially all other transport uses other forms of petroleum (commercial trucks & busses , construction equipment and commercial aircraft, rail, ships, pipelines). I think we have to conclude that passenger cars and trucks are a huge slice of the petroleum picture.



This is pretty good:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/analysis_publications/oil_market_basics/default.htm

U.S. Consumption by Sector

The use of petroleum products as vehicle fuels is classified as "transportation" use. In the United States, in contrast to other regions of the world, about 2/3 of all oil use is for transportation, as shown in the graph. (In most of the rest of the world, oil is more commonly used for space heating and power generation than for transportation.) Gasoline, in turn, accounts for about 2/3 of the total oil used for transportation in the United States. Other petroleum products commonly used for transportation include diesel fuel (used for trucks, buses, railroads, some vessels, and a few passenger autos), jet fuel, and residual fuel oil (used for tankers and other large vessels).

In the years since the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973/74, transportation has become a more important component of oil demand, as price and policy encouraged the substitution where possible of other fuels for oil. In non-transportation or "stationary" uses -- burning oil for space heating in buildings, such as homes, apartment buildings, stores, and schools, and burning oil for power to run factory equipment, or to generate electricity -- substitution of other energy sources for oil was possible, some of it immediately and some with the turnover of equipment. In transportation uses, in contrast, there is little fuel substitution possible in the short term and only limited potential in the longer term, given current technology. Consumption of oil in these stationary uses -- residential, commercial, industrial and electricity generation -- fell from a peak of 8.7 million barrels daily in 1978 (about 47 percent of total oil use) to a low of less than 6 million barrels per day in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Consumption in these sectors has been 6.5-7.0 million barrels per day more recently.

Thus, while oil continues to account for more than 95 percent of all the energy used for transportation in the United States, oil accounts for less than 20 percent of the energy consumed for other, stationary uses, down from 30 percent in 1973.
--------------------

Another interesting EIA report "Energy in the United States: 1635-2000"
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/eh/frame.html

Crude Oil isn't the dominant source of energy in the US, BUT it has a vital role in transportation.


Click the sector button on this site to find pages detailing military, off-highway, and other consumption of distillate (~diesel) fuel use.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/petroleum/info_glance/petroleum.html