Monday, August 29, 2005

Gasoline quotas

Today I was just curious what sort of number might come out of a communistic plot to give everyone in the world an equal share of the world's oil reserves.

Facts (Quick guesses)
World People: 6 billion
World Production: 84 million bbl/day
U.S. Automobile fraction: 40%
Gasoline per bbl of oil: 46 gallons
Cars average about 25 miles/gallon

That comes out to about 0.26 gallons of gasoline/person/day, and about 6.4 miles/day.

This number assumes everyone wants to drive that much. Of course also counts children, and one person per car, so actual drivers could get more. Maybe ignoring children/elderly, driving adults might claim 20 miles/day.

Assuming world oil production may likely never rise much higher than now, this number will decrease over time, as population continues to rise, and reserves continue to deplete.

Not as bad as I guessed perhaps, but rather a grim thought still.

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