What is the Carbon Footprint of:

American Cars?

There are millions of cars on the road in the United States, over 2 for every 3 citizens. The good news is that new fuel standards are in effect that will require a fleet average mpg of 35 miles per gallon by 2020. However many other nations especially in Europe have incorporated much stricter standards.

The United States Department of Transportation stated that in 2006 that there were roughly 250,852,000 cars on American roads and consuming a total of 174,843,844,000 gallons of gasoline. These 250 million cars had an average gas mileage of 17.2 and averaged 12,000 miles, consuming an average of 697 gallons of gas. A gallon of gas while only weighing about 6 pounds, produces 20.35 pounds of carbon dioxide due to the fact that one atom of carbon bonds to 2 atoms of oxygen tripling the weight. So 174,843,844,000 gallons of gas multiplied by 20.35 equals 3,558,072,225,400 pounds of CO2. To find the average per vehicle, the average number of gallons of gas by 20.35. So each vehicle in the United States produces 14183.95 pounds of carbon dioxide.