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by khuey
770 days ago
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> In the US, the transportation sector as a whole accounts for only 29% of our collective greenhouse gas emissions [0]. Within that sector, passenger cars only account for 20% of the 29%, or 5.8% of our total greenhouse gas emissions in the country. You need to account for light duty trucks here too. Merely including "passenger cars" is wrong since enormous numbers of Americans are driving pickups/SUVs/etc as their personal vehicles. That would push personal transportation to 16.5% of our total GHG emissions. |
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1) Because the emissions profiles of said vehicles are dramatically different, and it's unfair to drivers of low-emissions passenger cars to conflate them. "Everyone who drives" can't be said to be equally culpable if the minority that drive SUVs and trucks produce more than 2/3 of personal-transportation emissions.
2) Because the usage profiles are different. Yes, many light trucks are driven as personal vehicles, but they're also used for real work that even non-drivers are reaping the benefits from. When the cable guy or the plumber comes to your apartment building to make a repair, they come in a light truck.
I wish the numbers broke down emissions by usage type instead of or in addition to vehicle type, but we don't have that. As is, I'm comfortable saying that somewhere between 5.8% and 16.5% of our emissions come from personal transportation, and I don't believe that that alters my argument in any meaningful way.