Effective "Clean Transportation" Policy
The New York Times came out with an interesting article the other day about websites dedicated to 'carbon footprints' and clean energy research. Each person leaves a certain amount of carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2) in the air, depending on the type of car they drive and the products they consume--a problem particularly acute in car-rich nations such as the United States and Puerto Rico. In 1999 Puerto Rico had 2.08 million motor vehicles registered, which out of a 3.89 million population means that there are almost 2 cars per person (1.87). This figure compares to that of the United States, with 216 M cars and a 272 M population, or a 1.25 car per person index. Although it might be pointed out that overall fuel consumption has decreased by 20% over the last 25 years, traveling has also increased by an even larger margin (25%), thus actually worsening their detrimental impact over the period rather than improving it. Also, the increased consumption by trucks to transport goods is particularly acute. While automobile efficiency has increased, that of truck engines have not to the same degree, leading to a far greater carbon footprint per vehicle--particularly so when their much larger mileage is included. Trucks consume around 13 times the amount of petroleum-derivatives cars do. So while there are far fewer trucks, 38% that of cars in the US, their carbon footprint equals approximately 1.08 B automobiles, 5 times the actual number of cars. For Puerto Rico, the impact is not as bad given the much smaller number of overall trucks 30,920. Their footprint equals some 390,000 cars, or about 18.75% the actual number (1/5). Figures by the Energy Information Administration's Annual Energy Review (2000) suggest that policy should not ignore stimulating the truck sector to adopt environmentally-friendly technologies as well.