Density and oil consumption

Past policies of the American government have focused on stationary uses such as industry, home heating, and fuel efficiency but have put very little effort into reducing the number of vehicle miles traveled. There is strong evidence that oil usage and urban density are negatively correlated, meaning that the lower the density of a city, the more energy that city uses towards transportation per capita. In the New York tristate region gasoline use is 335 gallons per person, for the inner city it is 153 gallons per person, and in Manhattan gasoline use is down to 90 gallons per person.

On the global spectrum, United States cities are much less dense than those of Canada, Australia, Europe, and Asia. As predicted, the U.S. also uses significantly higher amounts of oil. Houston, for example has a population density of fewer than ten persons per acre and an annual per capita consumption of 600 gallons of gasoline. Amsterdam has an urban density of over twenty persons per acre and an annual consumption rate of fewer than 100 gallons per person. Hong Kong has an urban density of 120 persons per acre and consumes fewer than 50 gallons per person annually.

The reason that this shape holds true is that in denser areas people live, work, and shop all in the same area. These people are able to transport themselves by foot and bike. Perhaps even more important is the organization of the city. Cities such as Amsterdam and Copenhagen have an annual gasoline usage of fewer than 100 gallons yet also have fairly low population densities. This is because transportation routes are focused on walkable and bikeable routes and mass transportation. Diversity in transit options is key to having a more sustainable city transportation system. Toronto, for example, has commuter rail, subway, modern trams on-street and new LRTs on separate tracks, electric trolleys, diesel buses, and comprehensive cycle ways. That has allowed Toronto to keep low gasoline consumption per capita. In Europe distances are on average forty percent shorter than in North American cities.

In addition to transportation options land use planning also plays a major role in the reduction of oil consumption. One key to land use planning is creating a dense central zone with smaller dense zones surrounding transit stations. Dense urban cores can lead to a drastic reduction in oil consumption. Another key is to make driving difficult by making vehicular traffic a lesser priority behind walking, biking, and mass transit. This means essentially creating organized hassle and planned congestion for private vehicles.

Increasing population density is essential to reducing the amount of gasoline consumption in American cities. If policy-makers do not take the steps to urbanize our city centers and build up public transportation systems, then the United States will most certainly be doomed come the oil peak.