There are certain logical reasons for singling out the US first. If you compare American daily consumption of oil (20.73 bbl/day) with the worldwide figure (82.59 bbl/day), you will see that 4.5% worldwide population sucks in 25% of world’s oil.

Before you jump on these figures with an argument *but US are much more developed and industrialized than worldwide average and therefore require more*, yes, that is true. Now, let us have a look at other developed countries and their oil consumption:

– Germany – 11.7 bbl/year per capita
– Spain – 14.2 bbl/year per capita
– Japan – 15.9 bbl/year per capita
– Israel – 14.2 bbl/year per capita

compare to US and Canada
– United States – 25.2 bbl/year per capita
– Canada – 25.1 bbl/year per capita

So what do you mean, should we jump on Germans with their 11.7 figure? These are clear and objective reasons about why to jump on US (and Canada) first. It is obvious that you could easily cut your oil consumption by some 20% without any impact on the economy while still being 25% above average level of western developed countries.

BTW, my country has a figure of 4.95 bbl/year pc and I don’t think that there are any huge differences between the everyday life of you and me that would advocate you burning five times as much oil as I do. I cannot even imagine what I would do with such load of fuel, except buying me an used T-55 or BTR and riding around.

Flex, with all due respect you have utterly missed the point. Singling out any country is pointless, the fact is that the entire global economy is oil dependent. Far from just being about what size engine a car has this is about what everything we make is made from, even the computer on which you post on this forum will have oil in it.

You know, if you weren’t so busy being bellicose and pedantic, you might manage to get into a useful discussion every now and then. I have read the entire thread and don’t find your arguments on page 10 at all compelling.

Now stop dodging the question – you jumped down my throat for advocating self-interested conservation. You must have a better idea! 😀

Nope your still lying, I only jumped down your throat for singling out America. If my arguments were so uncompelling then you would be able to dispute them, but you cant.

Depends on which part of Europe or Asia we’re talking about, but why do you want to bring such irrelevancies into the discussion?

I’ve seen many roads in Europe, not enough, but a lot, and I have no idea what you’re on about. As for powering the trains, that depends on the train. To answer your question though, assuming that they do run on diesel and comparing them to the fleet of trucks and cars we would use here, several orders of magnitude less oil.

Where do you think the electricity comes from to power electric trains.:rolleyes:

Europe and Asia are both dependent on imported oil…….period.

China, India, Japan, all the same, alongside most if not all of western Europe, the economy of the entire planet is oil dependant and there are very few countries in the world that do not have to import it in one for or another.

Well firstly, many of those other countries are less dependent on imports. Secondly, few other countries are so completely dependent on cars. In europe you can usually walk or take a train to where you want to go. What’s going to happen in the USA when it is no longer economically feasible to drive from the suburbs to work and back?

Oh really, care to tell us how unreliant on oil imports, Europe and Asia are?:rolleyes:

And as for ridiclous notion about transport in Europe, that is just absurd. Take one look at the average road in Europe and you will get the idea.:rolleyes: Not to mention, what do you think it is that powers those trains?:rolleyes:

I think flex’s point is that it is in your self interest. Face it: you’ve hardly any oil at all and domestic production has been falling for years. Driving around in a V8 4×4 SUV, the overwhelming majority of which never so much as see gravel, much less going off road, burning 4x as much gas as the aforementioned Golf (which also probably has more cargo volume), purely as a fashion statement, doesn’t make a lot of sense.

The only reason you are involved with the economic and social disaster area that is the muslim world is because that is where the oil is, hence the expeditionary wars that are bankrupting your economy and the rest of the western world with it. From this point of view, I would expect that every self-respecting patriot would be jumping on the conservation bandwagon.

Yeah and you have yet to explain how this seperates the US from every other country on earth?:rolleyes:

I thought that as obvious?,

1) Largest consumer of oil
2) Largest poluter
3) Most hated country in the middle east (which holds 2/3rds of the worlds oil)

These are three that come top of my mind. Not singling out America here, but as she tries to be the worlds policeman and bastion of freedom and leader of the free world maybe she should lead by example in this instant too.

No reasons there at all, every country in the world uses oil. Maybe the Islamic world could set an example by not wanting to lash rape victims or kill cartoonists.

Why should America cut down its oil consumption? Every other country on the planet is doing the same so why single out America?