Chill to Fight Climate Change

There’s something you can do today to fight climate change. It’s effective, it’s easy, it costs nothing, it doesn’t require a lifestyle change, and most of you are going to hate it. You are also going to hate me for bringing it up because there is no rational reason not to do it. It is literally a crime not to. Literally.

 Stop speeding. Drive the speed limit. That’s it.

 Here’s the math. (If you don’t like explanations, speeding in the U.S. is responsible for at least 4.2% of our oil use, 1% of world oil use and 15,000 deaths annually)

 At highway speeds, most of your energy goes to pushing air out of the way.  Air drag increases by the square of your speed. Double the speed means four times the drag.  A small increase in speed ends up making a lot of difference in energy use.

 Compared to driving at 65 miles per hour, driving 75 mph will cost you 15% of your gas mileage and driving 80 mph will cost you 20%.

It’s hard to get an exact number on what percentage of drivers speed, and by how much. Study results vary. Generally speaking, about 75% of drivers speed, and about 80% of drivers surveyed think that driving ten to twenty miles per hour over the speed limit is fine. Absolute speed limit compliance is low. Biased self-reporting undoubtedly minimizes the problem.  It would be safe to say that 75% of drivers are losing about 15% of their mileage by speeding.

Road transportation accounts for 40% of our oil demand. Multiply it all out and about 4.5% of U.S. oil use is just due to speeding. The U.S. accounts for 20% of world oil demand, so speeding Americans increase world oil demand by about 1%.

Just an aggressive driving style, minus speeding, can cost drivers another 25%, so slowing down *and* calming down behind the wheel could cut world oil consumption by 2%.

We’d still have the other 98% of oil-based emissions to deal with, but it is free, it is easy, and it’s the law. When I say it’s the least we can do, I mean it’s the very least we can do.

If contributing to the survival of the planet isn’t enough to motivate you, consider the more direct deaths. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, speeding was a contributing factor in 9,478 deaths in 2019. An MIT study found that air pollution from vehicles causes 53,000 deaths annually. The inefficiency of speeding causes about 10.5% of those, or 5,565. If everybody slowed down, 15,000 Americans would not have to die prematurely. One of them could be you, or someone you love.

Cruise control is your friend, and a friend to nature. Set it at the speed limit. Cease worrying about speed traps. It’s really, really the very least you can do.