Oil Consumption Is Rising, Imports Are Skyrocketing, and Our Vehicles Are to Blame

Americans use far more gasoline than we need to, because our cars, SUVs, minivans, and pickup trucks waste it -- even though Detroit has the technology to fix the problem.

The result is that the passenger vehicles now on U.S. roads consume huge amounts of gasoline, chaining American drivers, our economy and even our foreign policy, to oil.

Here's a brief look at our dangerous oil dependence (NRDC's July 2004 fact sheet provides more depth):

• Despite improved technology, fuel economy is lower today than in the mid-1980s. In fact, in 2002, the average fuel economy of new vehicles sold was at its lowest point since 1981.

• The current fleet of gasoline and diesel engines are inherently dirty and inefficient. Today's autos use less than one-third the energy contained in a gallon of gas, wasting the rest.

• Cars, SUVs and other light trucks consume 8.7 million barrels of oil every day.

• Light trucks, including SUVs, account for 50 percent of the passenger vehicle market. Although they will never be the most fuel-efficient vehicles, they could be much more efficient than they are.

• U.S. oil consumption rose 16 percent between 1990 and 2002. Total U.S. oil consumption was 17 million barrels per day in 1990; it is now nearly 20 million barrels per day.

• During that same period, American crude oil imports rose 55 percent. If current trends continue, this country will import 70 percent of its oil by 2025.

• Today the United States spends nearly $300,000 per minute overseas to buy foreign oil, much of it from parts of the world controlled by unstable or less-than-friendly governments.

• The United States, with just 2 percent of the known reserves, consumes one-quarter of the world's production. Persian Gulf countries hold more than 65 percent of the world's oil reserves.

• The price of oil fluctuates all the time, costing consumers at the pump, and straining the economy. Over the last three decades, each of the four major spikes in oil prices (1973, 1979, 1990 and 2000) has been followed by a recession.

• The United States can't drill its way out of dependence on foreign oil -- we just don't have enough. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, for example, would likely yield less than a six months' supply.

But we can break the chain of dependence on all oil.