The current situation with petroleum is that the United States is one of the largest consumers, consuming nearly 26% of the world’s oil supplies. The average person living in the United States consumes about 3/4 of a barrel of oil per day. This oil usage habit of the United States is one of the many reasons why the source of petroleum is slowly declining. The Transportation sector of the United States is a huge reason why petroleum usage is so high. In order for a vehicle to work it needs gasoline which is petroleum. The more people who fill up their cars with gasoline the more petroleum is extracted and the quicker the decline of the resource.

I propose a solution that the United States can take to reduce their use of petroleum in the transportation sector. Although the United States cannot control the decisions their citizens make when it come to shopping for cars, they can control their own. If all police cars and other government owned cars were electric, there would be a huge decrease in petroleum usage. In the city of Brookhaven, Georgia with a population of 55,554 people, the police department spends an average of $228,000.00 per year on gasoline for their vehicles. This is one city with a lower population, imagine the total amount of money spent on gasoline in the United States as a whole. Since each police department pays for their own gas, that number is not public but I guarantee it is a lot. The money amount is just a proportion to the gallons of gas used. Although that information is not public, we can estimate using the average gas price in Georgia, $2.582 per gallon. $228,000.00 divided by $2.582 is approximately 88,303.64 gallons of gas used per year inBrookhaven Georgia. If every city went from using gas powered cars to electric vehicles in their government vehicles, the amount of petroleum used would decrease. Especially since police departments are slowly moving toward SUVs rather than Sedans, this switch is vital to preserving petroleum. The price point on Electric vehicles may seem scary but if the Brookhaven police department were to make the switch they would actually be saving about $1.2 million over the course of 6 years so it would be a beneficial investment for the United States.

To conclude, the resource of petroleum is slowly dwindling down. If the United States were to start to make changes in their own departments, citizens may follow and the rate of petroleum’s declination would hopefully slow down.

References:

Electric Vehicle for Police Operations Proof of Concept . Brookhaven, Georgia , www.brookhavenga.gov/sites/default/files/fileattachments/sustainable_brookhaven/page/21291/ev_comparison_report_may_2020.pdf.