Transportation Energy Use in Virginia

Virginia

The transportation of people and cargo accounts for more than one-fourth of the energy consumed in the United States annually. The transportation sector consumes more energy than any other but the industrial sector, and about 27% more than the residential sector.

Energy used for transportation in the United States predominantly comes from petroleum, a fossil fuel. Burning fossil fuel products, such as diesel or gasoline, releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses (GHG) that trap heat and lead to the warming of the atmosphere. The transportation sector is the largest contributor to GHG emissions. Within the transportation sector, 58% of GHG emissions in 2021 came from light-duty vehicles (passenger cars and light-duty trucks), followed by medium- and heavy-duty trucks at 23%. 

The consequences of fossil fuel use extend beyond global warming: Transportation emissions have damaging and far-reaching effects on our air, water, environment and ecosystem, contributing to acid rain, smog, contaminated drinking water, heavy metal poisoning, mass extinction events and declines in quality and longevity of human life. Research on the impact of pollution on health reveals strong associations with adverse birth outcomes, asthma, cancer, cardiovascular disease and premature death.

The fossil fuels used for transportation contribute to climate change, which impacts everyone. However, certain vulnerable populations will continue to be disproportionately affected, including pregnant women, children, older adults, individuals with disabilities, poor communities and communities of color.

Achieving carbon-neutral industrial transportation is challenging, as there are currently no technologies apart from petroleum-fueled internal combustion engines capable of powering shipping freighters or planes. However, important steps can still be taken to reduce fossil fuel use in transportation, such as:

• Developing vehicle technologies that reduce the amount of fuel used to run vehicles. These technologies include advanced internal combustion engines and start-stop systems.
• Expanding the market for electric vehicles and other low-carbon technologies by creating automobile fuel economy standards, mandates for the supply of renewable fuels, tax incentives to promote electric vehicles and usage of renewable fuel and funding public transportation. 
• Accelerating the development of technologies that could save fuel in freight-hauling trucks.
• Reducing or reforming fossil fuel subsidies. 
• Engaging existing oil and gas companies in the transition to clean energy. 
• Ensuring strict regulation of U.S. oil and gas production to reduce methane emissions and routine gas flaring (the burning of natural gas) during production. 

The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions suggests actions individuals can take to reduce their transportation energy footprint.

The Alliance to Save Energy has a goal to cut transportation energy use in half by 2050.

Altman, Matthew C., Meyer Kattan, George T. O’Connor, Ryan C. Murphy, Elizabeth Whalen, Petra LeBeau, Agustin Calatroni, et al. 2023. “Associations between Outdoor Air Pollutants and Non-Viral Asthma Exacerbations and Airway Inflammatory Responses in Children and Adolescents Living in Urban Areas in the USA: A Retrospective Secondary Analysis.” The Lancet Planetary Health 7 (1): e33–44. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(22)00302-3.

Bekkar, Bruce, Susan Pacheco, Rupa Basu, and Nathaniel DeNicola. 2020. “Association of Air Pollution and Heat Exposure With Preterm Birth, Low Birth Weight, and Stillbirth in the US: A Systematic Review.” JAMA Network Open 3 (6): e208243. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.8243.

International Energy Agency. 2020. “The Oil and Gas Industry in Energy Transitions.” Paris, France: IEA Publications. https://www.iea.org/reports/the-oil-and-gas-industry-in-energy-transitions.

Introcaso, David. 2018. “Climate Change Is The Greatest Threat To Human Health In History.” Health Affairs Blog, December 19, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1377/forefront.20181218.278288.

National Research Council, ed. 2011. Policy Options for Reducing Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions from U.S. Transportation. Transportation Research Board Special Report 307 307. Washington, D.C.: Transportation Research Board. https://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/sr/sr307.pdf.

The Alliance 50X50 commission. 2018. “Halving Transportation Energy Consumption By 2050.” https://www.ase.org/sites/ase.org/files/transportation-white-paper-feb2018.pdf.

U.S. Department of Energy. 2019. “Natural Gas Flaring and Venting: State and Federal Regulatory Overview, Trends, and Impacts.” U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Oil and Natural Gas, Office of Fossil Energy. https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2019/08/f65/Natural%20Gas%20Flaring%20and%20Venting%20Report.pdf.