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Gas Guzzlers (Obesity and Fuel Use)
Chicago-Sun Times ^
| October 25, 2006
| Monifa Thomas
Posted on 10/25/2006 11:43:27 AM PDT by Southside_Chicago_Republican
Fatter drivers cause increase in gasoline consumption, says study
Being overweight isn't just bad for your health. New research suggests that America's obesity epidemic is also feeding the growth in U.S. fuel consumption.
Americans are pumping almost 940 million more gallons of gas into their vehicles than they did in 1960 because the average American is roughly two dozen pounds heavier. That amounts to $2.8 billion more spent on gas each year, if gas is selling for $3 a gallon.
So says a new study from researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Virginia Commonwealth University.
Researchers used federal statistics to calculate how much fuel Americans in 1960 and other years would have used if they were driving in 2003.
"We basically looked at the average weights of people for different time periods, and then we took those people and we put them in . . . today's cars with today's driving habits," said Sheldon H. Jacobson, one of the study's authors and a professor of computer science at U of I.
Jacobson and Virginia Commonwealth professor Laura McLay also factored in variables such as passengers of different weights and ages.
The study, to be published in The Engineering Economist journal, shows that "our nation's hunger for food and our hunger for oil aren't independent of each other," Jacobson said. "Beyond public health, being overweight has many other socioeconomic implications."
The extra gas being used each year to carry more overweight Americans is about three days' worth of what the nation currently consumes, McLay said.
"Every additional gallon of fuel is coming from a foreign source, and it's expensive," Jacobson said.
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: energy; fuelefficiency; gasguzzlers; gasoline; obesity; wasteofmoney
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Just the other day, I was on the road, dodging potholes and bouncing over buckled seams and I thought, "I'll bet the roads are so bad because of all of those obese people driving around." Then I thought about something else. But if I had continued thinking about obese drivers/passengers, I might have come to the same conclusion as these university researchers did-- that obesity is taking its toll on automobile fuel efficiency. Wherever the funds came for for this study, it's money well-spent, I say.
I can't wait for the policy proposals that might result from this. Maybe even another Al Gore movie.
To: Southside_Chicago_Republican
Fatter drivers cause increase in gasoline consumption, says study *gasp* FRENCH FRIES CAUSE GLOBAL WARMING!! FILM AT ELEVEN!
2
posted on
10/25/2006 11:46:03 AM PDT
by
Prime Choice
(True Conservatives don't vote for Liberals just because they have an 'R' by their name.)
To: Southside_Chicago_Republican
Do smokers decrease the amount of fossil fuels burned in autos since they die early?
To: Southside_Chicago_Republican
Al Gore and Tipper and John Edwards' wife are once again part of the problem.
4
posted on
10/25/2006 11:47:03 AM PDT
by
TracyTucson
(Teachers : Overpaid and Underworked........ Eliminate > ADA, EOE, NLRB, SS, DOE)
To: Southside_Chicago_Republican
Skinny people waste gas driving to the gym.
5
posted on
10/25/2006 11:47:46 AM PDT
by
dead
(I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
To: Mr. Brightside
I don't know ... but a topic worthy of a university study.
6
posted on
10/25/2006 11:48:06 AM PDT
by
Southside_Chicago_Republican
(Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.)
To: Southside_Chicago_Republican
Fat Democrats ain't got no reason to live.
To: Southside_Chicago_Republican
I'm calling bullcrap. Cars and trucks are considerably more efficient. America is using more gas because we have over 100 million more people in the country than we did in the 1960's
8
posted on
10/25/2006 11:48:57 AM PDT
by
tort_feasor
(FreeRepublic.com - Tommorrow's News, Today)
To: tort_feasor
Yeah, I imagine there are some other problems with this study, too.
9
posted on
10/25/2006 11:50:29 AM PDT
by
Southside_Chicago_Republican
(Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.)
To: Southside_Chicago_Republican
Here's a load (pant-load)
To: Southside_Chicago_Republican
More politically biased junk science from academia . . .
Time marches on . . .
11
posted on
10/25/2006 11:51:23 AM PDT
by
blues_guitarist
(I noticed citgo is advertising on FNC now . ... . .BOYCOTT CITGO!!)
To: Southside_Chicago_Republican
Yeah wait till they come for the smokers with this.. lol
"Fat smokers who drive SUVs use more gas" lol
Boy I tell ya, every day there is another one of these "studies" that fit their agenda.
12
posted on
10/25/2006 11:52:13 AM PDT
by
eXe
(Si vis pacem, para bellum)
To: Southside_Chicago_Republican
Won't be long before obese SUV drivers are ticketed and fined.
13
posted on
10/25/2006 11:53:02 AM PDT
by
Rennes Templar
("The future ain't what it used to be".........Yogi Berra)
To: Southside_Chicago_Republican
The extra gas being used each year to carry more overweight Americans is about three days' worth of what the nation currently consumes, McLay said. That's simply not plausible unless they made the cars get obese in concert.
14
posted on
10/25/2006 11:53:29 AM PDT
by
lepton
("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
To: Southside_Chicago_Republican
I'm thinking too many Guvmint grants available to too many Liberal researchers pursuing their pre-conceived phoney Liberal results ...
15
posted on
10/25/2006 11:54:44 AM PDT
by
Babu
To: tort_feasor
Elites leftists go after fat people because most rich people are thin and most fat people are poor. Under the pretense of concern for fat people themselves or, as is the case here, concern for the environment, lefties want to pass laws that directly or indirectly target the obese. Makes me sick.
16
posted on
10/25/2006 11:54:50 AM PDT
by
utahagen
To: Prime Choice; All
*gasp* FRENCH FRIES CAUSE GLOBAL WARMING!! FILM AT ELEVEN!ROTFLMAO!
17
posted on
10/25/2006 11:54:50 AM PDT
by
Fiddlstix
(Warning! This Is A Subliminal Tagline! Read it at your own risk!(Presented by TagLines R US))
To: eXe
And probably contribute to global warming, the depletion of the ozone layer, and other horrors, with their second-hand smoke.
18
posted on
10/25/2006 11:54:58 AM PDT
by
Southside_Chicago_Republican
(Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.)
To: lepton
Don't know if the 3 day number is correct or not but it's real simple. The more weight you haul the more fuel you burn.
19
posted on
10/25/2006 11:56:59 AM PDT
by
nomorelurker
(wetraginhell)
To: eXe
"Fat smokers who drive SUVs use more gas"
CORRECTION: Fat smokers who drive SUV's and eat at Waffle House use more gas...
There..
20
posted on
10/25/2006 11:57:42 AM PDT
by
GeorgiaDawg32
(At 53, I'm the life of every party I go to, even if it lasts till 8 p.m...)
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