BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Mmm.....

Something that is made me intrigued over the last couple of days is the oil-spill going on in the Gold of Mexico.... gas prices have been going up considerably lately, then we have this oil leak that seems to be devastating not only financially, but ecologically too. Lastly, we know that we don't have enough oil globally to fulfill the world's oil needs for more than 20 years max.... so I wonder, what more reasons do people, governments, and (car) manufacturing companies need to finally do a real transition from oil/cars into sustainable commuting and cycling?

Really.....

its striking how much that correspond to the out come of the last couple presidential elections.

I'd like to see the per-capita portion of that chart broken down by county. PA is heavily skewed to the favorable by Pgh and Philly's heavy transit usage, but the outlying counties -- Butler, Westmoreland, etc. around here, for example -- would be strongly suburban in nature, as opposed to very rural counties like Venango, Mercer, etc.

THEN compare the chart to the '08 election results.

Make note the difference between low -> moderate -> high is 2 barrels/ person which is only 80 gallons.

So like 250 extra miles in my ford escort on the highway would move me from one to the other. Also a vacation to the beach (500 miles) one year could move me from low to high at 30 mpg. right?

one year ould move me from low to high at 30 mpg. right?

That would partly explain why the per-capita consumption in Texas is high but their total use is (in perspective) not all the much higher than New Jersey at a fraction of their size. You have to drive a long way to get anywhere in a lot of Texas. Actually, Wyoming is a better example. Very little total use but everyone drives a lot.

Interesting to note that California is moderate per-capita but total consumption is so high. I guess that's because by population they are like the sixth or seventh largest country in the world.

They may not drive as far but there's a heck of a lot of cars on the road.

Coming from georgia, There is pretty poor trasit options, distances are pretty far, and people tend to drive old, big engine, beaters, or big trucks/suv's.

After moving to PGH, it was interesting that the average car size was smaller than in ga.

@ steevo Make note the difference between low -> moderate -> high is 2 barrels/ person which is only 80 gallons.

I noticed that too. But then, by world standards, any of the states passed "Large" on into XXXL territory decades ago.

And NY is 7, but Wyoming 15, so there is a spread there.

The intersting questions would involve states with similar population patterns and different consumption - if there are any.

My prejudice is that suburban/exurban spread (NJ, GA, and TX) might be a factor, but CA is OK and Greater Chicagoland is downright green.

Mick: A lot of Chicago commuting, even in the exurbs, is done by commuter rail, and they're actively extending the system as well.

I think this chart tells a lot of the story:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commuter_rail_in_North_America

Anectodally from my personal experience I think Chicago must be carrying Illinois because when I lived there they were 10 years behind Pittsburgh in reducing energy use and 15 years behind where I grew up on the East Coast.