Plump at the pump: A waist of energy?
At first I chuckled at this article, then I thought it was kind of sad. Anyway, apparently obesity in America is contributing to rising demand for gasoline, and affecting — excuse the pun — our bottom line. According to a new study, the U.S. is using 3.8 billion more litres of gas each year than it did 45 years ago because Americans on average are heavier. That is, they’re heavier passengers, meaning vehicles burn more fuel. It also means $2.2 billion (U.S.) more is being spent on gas than in 1960, assuming 59 cents a litre.
Makes you wonder the impact on the airline industry, cruise ships and trains.
Tyler Hamilton is senior energy reporter and columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the cleantech market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper. Tyler can be reached at tyler@cleanbreak.ca