14 DAY TRIAL // The fact that 66 percent of all American citizens are considered to be overweight, and that 32 percent of those people are obese – with a body mass index of over 30 – did not go without repercussions on the automotive industry, and especially the cars most US residents drive. Over the past two to three decades, as the average weight increased, so did the size of the cars, and, implicitly, the amount of fuel they took up.
According to a 2008 study, cars and light trucks in America consume about 1.137 billion gallons of fuel per year more than they did a decade ago, and not because the number of vehicles increased, but simply because both the drivers and the passengers got larger. And people who are either obese or overweight feel the need for more comfortable cars, and larger at that. So gas-guzzlers, such as SUVs and large sedans took over the market.
But these vehicles consume a lot of fuel per mile, so the consumption rate grew constantly. For example, in 2006, previous studies showed that the excess fuel deficit was of about 938 million gallons per year. This means that over the last two years, there has been a 200 billion gallons of fuel increase in the US, from simply adding people’s weight to that of larger cars.
It stands to reasons that moving a 1-tonne car forward is fairly easy, and the process does not require too much effort on the part of the engine. But the figures change when you try to move forward a 2 to 3-tonne SUV. Because the car presses so hard on the road, the engine needs to output extra power in order to move on the same distance. Therefore, fuel consumption increases, as the car struggles to move ahead in traffic.
“Growing overweight and obesity rates in the United States continue to increase fuel consumption by adding extra passenger weight to vehicles. More than 1 billion gallons of fuel consumed each year can be attributed to this excess weight. The trend in this country is that we are getting heavier, and our vehicles are consuming more fuel as a result. The growing obesity problem is a major symptom of our nation’s addiction to oil. We prefer to ride when we should walk,” says Sheldon H. Jacobson, a computer science professor at the University of Illinois, who conducted both studies.