Visualizing U.S. Consumption of Fuel and Materials per Capita
Wealthy countries consume massive amounts of natural resources per capita, and Americans are no exception.
According to data from the National Mining Association, each American needs more than 39,000 pounds (17,700 kg) of minerals and fossil fuels annually to maintain their standard of living.
Materials We Need to Build
Every building around us and every sidewalk we walk on is made of sand, steel, and cement.
As a result, these materials lead consumption per capita in the United States. On average, each person in America drives the demand of over 10,000 lbs of stone and around 7,000 lbs of sand and gravel per year.
Material/Fossil Fuel | Pounds Per Person |
---|---|
Stone | 10,643 |
Natural Gas | 9,456 |
Sand, Gravel | 7,088 |
Petroleum Products | 6,527 |
Coal | 3,290 |
Cement | 724 |
Other Nonmetals | 569 |
Salt | 359 |
Iron Ore | 239 |
Phosphate Rock | 166 |
Total | 39,291 |
The construction industry is a major contributor to the U.S. economy.
Crushed stone, sand, gravel, and other construction aggregates represent half of the industrial minerals produced in the country, resulting in $29 billion in revenue per year.
Also on the list are crucial hard metals such as copper, aluminum, iron ore, and of course many rarer metals used in smaller quantities each year. These rarer metals can make a big economic difference even when their uses are more concentrated and isolated—for example, palladium (primarily used in catalytic converters) costs $54 million per tonne.
Fuels Powering our Lives
Despite ongoing efforts to fight climate change and reduce carbon emissions, each person in the U.S. uses over 19,000 lbs of fossil fuels per year.
Gasoline is the most consumed petroleum product in the United States.
In 2021, finished motor gasoline consumption averaged about 369 million gallons per day, equal to about 44% of total U.S. petroleum use. Distillate fuel oil (20%), hydrocarbon gas liquids (17%), and jet fuel (7%) were the next most important uses.
Reliance on Other Countries
Over the past three decades, the United States has become reliant on foreign sources to meet domestic demand for minerals and fossil fuels. Today, the country is 100% import-reliant for 17 mineral commodities and at least 50% for 30 others.
In order to reduce the dependency on other countries, namely China, the Biden administration has been working to diversify supply chains in critical minerals. This includes strengthening alliances with other countries such as Australia, India, and Japan.
However, questions still remain about how soon these policies can make an impact, and the degree to which they can ultimately help localize and diversify supply chains.
makati1 on Sat, 28th Jan 2023 4:11 pm
The US has wasted its resources for centuries. Now it plunders the rest of the world to keep its wasteful habits supplied. Those days are coming to a close. The biggest prize, Russia is too powerful to be plundered again.
Now Amerika has to trade fair or do without. It’s debt based money is about worthless and it has nothing to sell but overpriced, malfunctioning, junk weapons so it manufactures wars to sell them to their “friends”.
I would love to see a comparison of per capita use of the other 180+ countries. I would bet that the US is #1 with a long distance to the next consuming country. The top 10 would likely all be Western countries. The Philippines would be way down the list as it uses 1/20th the oil per capita as the US, not to mention all other consumables.
theluckycountry on Sun, 29th Jan 2023 12:49 pm
18 Ton of fuel and materials per person per year. Now I wonder how many windmills we need spinning to provide that? (300 Million x …)
makati1 on Sun, 29th Jan 2023 5:01 pm
BTW: In 2020 the Philippines was 156 of 214 countries in energy consumption.
The US was 17th.
Russia: 31st.
China: 64th
https://elements.visualcapitalist.com/energy-consumption-per-capita/