 |
Hybrid Cars and Americas Dependency on Foreign Oil
Much of that oil consumption by transportation is satisfied with foreign oil, as about 61% of U.S. oil is imported from foreign producers, according to The Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA). That translates to about $132 billion annually used on foreign oil imports (or about a quarter of balance of payments deficit at the end of 2004), again according to EDTA. As part of the solution, hybrid cars can deliver great fuel economy improvements over conventional cars. For example, the top 7 spots in the 2005 Environmental Protection Agency's Green Vehicle Guide went to hybrid cars. For the unadjusted combined miles-per-gallon indicator (combines miles-per-gallon highway and city values), the top spot holder Honda Civic hybrid had a value of 74.3172. In comparison, In comparison, the first non-hybrid car for the unadjusted combined MPG indicator, the VW New Beetle, had a value of 48.2258. Hybrid Cars and Americas Dependency on Foreign Oil - Current DevelopmentsAs more and more hybrid cars are sold in the U.S. each year, their impact on the dependency of U.S. on foreign oil starts to show gradually. If we assume that 61% of transportation's oil consumption comes from foreign oil, and that the fuel economy difference (improvement) between the best non-hybrid car (according to EPA calculations for 2005), VW New Beetle and the best hybrid car, Honda Civic hybrid, of roughly 54% could be achieved if all transportation vehicles (including other vehicles than cars) would use hybrid engines, the annual savings on oil imports on national level would be $15.29 billion. Given the $132 billion in annual oil imports, that $15.29 billion translates to 11.6% savings. That is a very rough figure and given the factors put in, simply a general guideline. The Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) has a useful PDF publication on the facts and figures of domestic oil production and on the importance of foreign oil imports. You can download the IPAA PDF presentation, titled 2004 Oil and Natural Gas IssuesBriefing Book (opens up a new window), directly from the organization.
|