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Ishimoto 1
Michael Ishimoto
85528967
Writing 39C: 33343
Joseph Modugno
Abstract
The United States is the leader in energy consumption per captia. This is important
because energy consumption is a good indicator (as most countries’ energy comes from nonrenewable sources) of pollution, use of resources, and their ecological impacts on the world. The
United States being the leader means that Americans are the most energy inefficient citizens in
the world using more energy per person than any other country. By extension they are the largest
contributors, on an individual level, to the negative impacts on the environment (eg global
warming/climate change). This paper focuses on how American culture has shaped its
infrastructure in creating this problem. It concludes that if the United States is to be a powerful
voice in stopping global climate change it must first make changes to itself.
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American Culture’s Effect on United States’ Energy Consumption
Global warming, smog clouds, coal mining, nuclear waste management. These are some
of the issues the world now faces as it tries to meet its ever growing demand for energy. While
finding and tapping into new sources of energy will always be a part of the solution, increased
energy efficiency is a necessity to ensure the world’s energy demands can be met. The United
States, in particular, is one of the largest users of energy in the world. This by itself is not a bad
thing. However, the United States’ infrastructure built around car culture, urban sprawl, and
cheap energy has made it also one of most inefficient energy users in the world.
There is a common perception in the United States that China is the largest source of
energy consumption and thus pollution in the world. In response, the US points its finger at
China to reduce its energy consumption. However, it must be considered that China is a much
more populous country than the United States. Obviously, as can be seen by the graph below, a
country with a relatively small population, such as St. Kitts and Nevis with a population of
51,134 (or the United States with a population of 316,438,601), is going to have much lower
energy consumption than China with a population of 1,349,585,838 (“World Factbook”). From
this observation, it becomes apparent that it is pointless to compare how “green” a country is
purely on a country by country basis. Taking population into account, it can be seen then that the
United States is one of the largest consumers of energy on a per capita basis.
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Figure 1: Total Energy Use of Select Countries. (Google Public Data)
Figure 2: Energy Use Per Capita of Select Countries. (Google Public Data)
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What does this mean? To put it simply, the average American citizen uses more energy
than the average citizen of one of the countries listed on the graph (and many citizens from
unlisted countries). While one might argue that this is because Americans have access to a higher
quality of life (and thus more energy intensive lifestyle) than the average citizen in a third world
country such as Kenya, this alone would not explain why they have roughly two times the energy
consumption of similar first world countries.
The main reason for energy consumption being so high is seeded in American culture
values. The desire to be away from the busy and crowded city led to the creation of suburbs. The
suburbs are one of the forms of urban sprawl which spreads out where people live lowering the
population density. This lower density requires more energy to maintain as more energy is used
per person to cool down/heat up the area, to illuminate the area at night, and to pump water to all
the individual homes. Another impact is the increased distance of the citizen from their place of
work. Combining this with America’s car culture in which people tend to drive instead of taking
public transit, transportation energy usage is increased.
Furthermore, as part of the global economy with its major cities covering a large
geographic area, the United States consumes a lot of energy to transport goods within itself.
Making it possible for potatoes from Idaho, corn from Colorado, garlic from California, etc to be
available all around the country, requires a massive amount of energy. Instead of acquiring
resources locally, the United States, like many other countries, imports what it cannot locally
acquire to meet demands. However, unlike other many other countries, this requires a massive
amount of energy due to the large amount of geographic area that the commodities must travel
across.
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Moreover, the United States government at both the state and federal levels help
empower this unsustainable lifestyle by providing cheap energy. As New York University
professor and researcher Andrew Ross notes, “the price of a gallon [of water] in the parched
[Arizona] Valley was less than half the cost of its equivalent in rain-soaked Seattle, and the
average daily per capita residential use was more than twice as much (Ross 39).” It’s simple
economics that providing something at a lower cost will increase the quantity demanded, and
accordingly its usage. This general rule holds true for energy sources as well. This year,
specifically January 2014, retail premium gasoline prices have stayed relatively consistent at
roughly $3.24 per gallon in both Europe and the United States before taxes. However, after taxes,
a stark difference can be seen between the United States and Europe. The U.S. gas price stays
around $3.66 per gallon while in the U.K. gas is at $8.03, the Netherlands at $8.64, and Italy at
$8.81 (“International Energy Statistics”). Thus, it makes sense that the United States’ citizens
consumed over two times the amount of
petroleum than the United Kingdom’s did in
2012 per person (18,490.2 thousand barrels per
day with a population of 316,438,601 vs 1,502.7
thousand barrels per day with a population of
63,395,574) (“International Energy Statistics”
and “World Factbook”).
Why does this matter? Energy drives our
civilization. While its usage might not be directly
harmful, the forms humanity currently extracts it
Figure 3: United States Primary Energy Consumption.
(Annual Energy Review 2011, 298)
from do come at a cost. The United States’
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largest source of energy, fossil fuels such as coal; oil; and natural gas, make up 85% of our
primary consumption. These fuels, along with certain renewable sources like wood and biofuels,
produce greenhouse gases that contribute to the negative effects associated with global climate
change. Furthermore, harmful substances such as carbon monoxide, particulate matter, and
photochemical smog are produced that harm the planet and the things living on it. Thus, in its
current form, energy is closely linked with environmental damage.
In conclusion, in the coming debate over global climate change and acquiring sustainable
energy sources, energy efficiency will be a large criticism of the United States. In order to be a
powerful advocate of lowering global pollution, the United States must first change itself to gain
the credibility on the matter. If it does not, debate might stagnate while we gamble with the
health of our world.
Works Cited (Annotated Bibliography is a work in progress)
Ross, Andrew. Bird on Fire: Lessons from the World's Least Sustainable City. New York:
Oxford University Press, 2011. Print.
In the book, Bird on Fire, New York University professor Andrew Ross criticizes United
States resource consumption by examining Phoenix, Arizona as a case study of unsustainable
practices that have shaped the desert city. Ross presents his book in the form of a documentary.
In order to portray how the city’s practices were formed and their possible consequences, Ross
cites historical background and modern day data to contextualize his critic. Ross’ intended
audience is made up of academic minds and policy makers. The purpose of his book is to
highlight the political, social, historical, economic, and natural environment that makes Phoenix
such an unsustainable location.
United States. Central Intelligence Agency. World Factbook. Web Document, 2014. Web.
<https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook>.
The World Factbook is a webpage compiled by the CIA in order to provide data about
countries such as population, economy, and government structure to the public. The World
Factbook is a webpage which allows the CIA a large amount of accessibility to keep data current
and accurate. The CIA uses numerical data it collects to support the information it provides the
public. The purpose of the website is to inform people who want to learn about a country about
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general structure of the country which the person can compare to other countries from which the
same type of data has been collected.
United States. U.S. Energy Information Administration. Annual Energy Review 2011. Web
Document, 2012. Web. <http://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/annual/pdf/aer.pdf>.
The Annual Energy Review 2011 is a pdf made by the United States Energy Information
Administration to provide a comprehensive report about energy production and use in the United
States. The review takes the form of a 390 page pdf file in order to provide an easily accessible,
well-rounded source of data. The EIA uses numerical data it collects to support the information
in provides the public. The purpose of the report is to provide a large amount of data to policy
makers to interpret the data and make laws around the data.
United States. U.S. Energy Information Administration. International Energy Statistics. Web
Document, 2014. Web. <http://www.eia.gov/countries/data.cfm>.
“World Bank, Energy Use Per Capita.” Google Public Data. Web Document, 2014. Web
<http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&met_y=eg_use_pcap_
kg_oe&hl=en&dl=en&idim=country:USA:GBR:CAN#!ctype=l&strail=false&bcs=d&ns
elm=h&met_y=eg_use_pcap_kg_oe&scale_y=lin&ind_y=false&rdim=region&idim=cou
ntry:USA:GBR:CHN:JPN:SWE:KNA:KEN&ifdim=region&hl=en_US&dl=en&ind=fals
e>;.
Google Public Data is a free feature built into Google to take publically available,
numeric data from credible sources to build easy to use graphs. Google compiles the data to
allow the user to customize the graph to limit the amount of data displayed. This allows for the
graphs to be easily readable. The data for the specific graph I used was from the World Bank, a
group that collects data to show quantitative results that their attempts to end extreme poverty are
working. The audience for this feature is researchers, students, and policy makers that want to
interpret the data compiled.
“World Bank, Energy Use (kt of oil equivalent).” Google Public Data. Web Document, 2014.
Web
<http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&met_y=eg_use_pcap_
kg_oe&hl=en&dl=en&idim=country:USA:GBR:CAN#!ctype=l&strail=false&bcs=d&ns
elm=h&met_y=eg_use_comm_kt_oe&scale_y=lin&ind_y=false&rdim=region&idim=co
untry:USA:GBR:CHN:JPN:SWE:KNA:KEN&ifdim=region&hl=en_US&dl=en&ind=fal
se>.