Addicted to Cars? Try The Patch « It’s Getting Hot In Here

Addicted to Cars? Try The Patch

5 Responses to “Addicted to Cars? Try The Patch”

1 RS Jul 28th, 2008 at 4:19 pm

IPCC reported that 85% or so of energy use is in driving, not production.
Don’t the hybrid batteries get recycled?

http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/tar/wg3/100.htm
2 Mattie Reitman Jul 28th, 2008 at 5:59 pm

I’ve got a source that I’ve been sitting on for a while that makes this conversation irrelevant:

“an embodied energy factor of 1.50, or 150% direct fuel use is required to build and operate a car (cell G90). Fifteen percent is additional energy to build the car, and 35 % is the indirect energy consumed to build the physical infrastructure needed for automobile use (highways, bridges, etc.).”
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/projects/cases/footprint/calculations%20transportation.html

In English, it’s saying that about 1/3 of our transportation sector energy consumption is spent just building and maintaining infrastructure. If this source is correct, this means that even if we completely stopped driving and building new vehicles today, we would only cut transportation energy consumption by 2/3.

Any informed thoughts on whether this is accurate?
3 danawv Jul 29th, 2008 at 3:38 pm

If we stopped driving today, we would have hardly any infrastructure costs. I just heard on the radio that costs of infrastructure maintenance have already gone as a result of higher gas prices and people driving less this summer. That is to say, some projects people thought would need started on by the end of summer haven’t been started, because the road wear wasn’t as bad as anticipated.
4 danawv Jul 29th, 2008 at 3:39 pm

I’m equating costs to energy consumption here, hope that makes sense.
5 RS Jul 30th, 2008 at 2:15 pm

Those emissions associated with creating asphalt, etc are probably not normally counted under the transportation sector- more of an industrial issue. You could cap cement and asphalt makers under cap and trade and make them pay for their carbon and find alternatives.

About Mattie

Matt/Mattie Reitman got introduced to energy and climate work as an undergrad at Syracuse University, where he helped start a successful campaign to get the university to buy 20% clean renewable energy. At the time, this put SU amongst the top 25 renewables purchasers in the country. Mattie is focused on building the youth climate movement in Ohio, fighting proposed dirty energy facilities, and building campus-community solidarity. He has a degree in women's studies and sociology, and lives in Columbus, Ohio.