Amazing that Australia uses more petrol than France that has three times the number of people. Price of filling up a Honda Ciivc here is currently $US60. It would have been lower last November probably when this table was created.
Just as greenhouse gas production should be measured per volume of atmosphere (ie. per land area) rather than per capita (since that is what ultimately determines the CO2 concentration in the world's atmosphere), petrol consumption should be measured against relavent factors that affect consumption eg. distance between population centres, kms of roadway, population density etc.
Not everything can be sensibly measured 'per capita' as economists sometimes tend to do ;)
Sure, economic structure, population density, climate etc. need to be taken into account. But three times more per capita is a big difference. And if anything France is more rural than Australia as most Australians live in the major metro areas.
The point is that France's population is roughly three times Australia's and the graphic shows total petrol use in the country (not per capita) so even taking into account differences in population density etc. the difference in per capita petrol use is quite striking.
One of the key differences is that this study concentrates on PETROL consumption, and not PRIVATE VEHICLE consumption. Almost all petrol consumption in countries is based upon private vechicle usage. Larger fleets are generally other fuel types (diesel, LNG, LPG etc). This means that the market share of the fuel types for passenger vechiles is significantly skewing this result. France, which has a fuel taxation policy which benefits diesel fuels, has more than 50% of private vehicles running on diesel. Australia on the other hand, and a very small percentage. This heavily distorts the results of this study - another example of the importance of looking deeper than the headline statistic to understand the reporting!
Excellent point on use of diesel in private cars in some European countries! I forgot about that. That makes the difference in consumption much easier to understand.
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Just as greenhouse gas production should be measured per volume of atmosphere (ie. per land area) rather than per capita (since that is what ultimately determines the CO2 concentration in the world's atmosphere), petrol consumption should be measured against relavent factors that affect consumption eg. distance between population centres, kms of roadway, population density etc.
Not everything can be sensibly measured 'per capita' as economists sometimes tend to do ;)
Sure, economic structure, population density, climate etc. need to be taken into account. But three times more per capita is a big difference. And if anything France is more rural than Australia as most Australians live in the major metro areas.
Enough Wealth is right - distances in Australia are much larger, so I would actually expect them to use more gas per capita than France.
The point is that France's population is roughly three times Australia's and the graphic shows total petrol use in the country (not per capita) so even taking into account differences in population density etc. the difference in per capita petrol use is quite striking.
One of the key differences is that this study concentrates on PETROL consumption, and not PRIVATE VEHICLE consumption. Almost all petrol consumption in countries is based upon private vechicle usage. Larger fleets are generally other fuel types (diesel, LNG, LPG etc). This means that the market share of the fuel types for passenger vechiles is significantly skewing this result. France, which has a fuel taxation policy which benefits diesel fuels, has more than 50% of private vehicles running on diesel. Australia on the other hand, and a very small percentage. This heavily distorts the results of this study - another example of the importance of looking deeper than the headline statistic to understand the reporting!
Excellent point on use of diesel in private cars in some European countries! I forgot about that. That makes the difference in consumption much easier to understand.
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