ENERGY 1
From CFI
DATE
January 12, 2005
RESEARCHER
David Drell
ASSUMPTIONS
Transportation fuel use in Willits is similar to that found in California as a whole.
QUESTION
Transportation: How many gallons of transportation fuels are used each month over the year? What is public fuel use versus private fuel use?
ANSWER
The greater Willits area (95490 zip code) includes 13,302 people
Total # of vehicles = 9,385 ( cars and trucks)
The ratio of trucks/autos based on statewide figures = 9,771,261 trucks/ 25,169,981 vehicles = .3882
Therefore, Total trucks in Willits = .3882 x 9385 total # vehicles =3643 trucks
Total cars in Willits = 9385 total # vehicles - 3643 trucks = 5742 cars
Yearly volumes of Motor Fuel consumed in California:
13,500,533,000 gallons of gasoline
2,011,176,000 gallons of other fuels
Total California population = 31,878,234 people
Annual gallons of gasoline consumed per person = 13,500,533,000 gallons/ 31, 878,234 people = 423 gallons/ person/ year
Annual gallons of other fuels = 63/ gallons/ person/ year
TOTAL GALLONS OF GASOLINE CONSUMED EACH YEAR IN WILLITS:
423 gallons/ person x 13,302 people = 5,626,746 gallons
TOTAL GALLONS OF OTHER FUELS CONSUMED EACH YEAR IN WILLITS:
63 gallons/person x 13,302 people = 838026 gallons
TOTAL GALLONS OF TRANSPORTATION FUEL CONSUMED IN WILLITS:
6,464,772 gallons
GASOLINE CONSUMPTION EACH MONTH IN WILLITS BASED ON STATE-WIDE FIGURES / PERSON:
January - 1,057,052,000 gallons/ 31,878,234 people = 33.16 gallons/person x
13,302 people in Willits = 441,094 gallons
February - 442,690 gallons
March - 484,040 gallons
April - 469,020 gallons
May - 470690 gallons
June - 464,010 gallons
July - 492,800 gallons
August - 498,640 gallons- Maximum consumption = 16,085 gallons / day
September - 446,480 gallons
October - 478,610 gallons
November - 478,200 gallons
December - 473,610 gallons
If I convert yearly transportation fuel to Btu's, as a common unit of energy I can examine how much of other existing sources of energy would be needed to
replace our present liquid fossil fuels used for transportation.
Assuming that all fuels have 125,000 Btu's / gallon,
6,464,772 gallons x 125,000 = 808 billion Btu/ year or 60 million Btu /person/ yr.
Assuming 3413 Btu / kilowatt-hr,
converting all transportation fuel to electricity would require 236,770 new Megawatt-hrs of electricty / year requiring 46 new power plants averaging
213 Megawatts each.
Assuming 14,000,000 Btu / cord of wood, converting all transportation fuel to wood result in cords of wood laid end to end stretching from Willits to Santa Rosa, approximately 87 miles.
Total volume of transportation fuel / year consumed in Willits = 19 acre-ft. or an amount able to fill a reservoir the size of a football field, 19 feet deep.
Private fuel consumption versus public fuel concumption:
Statewide approximately 1% of the cars and trucks are public, so if we apply these percentages to Willits, The public portion of gasoline consumption in greater Willits = 5,626,746 gallons x .01 = 56,267 gallons of gasoline
The public portion of other transportation fuel consumption in greater Willits = 838,062 gallons x .01 = 8,380 gallons of other fuels ( diesel, propane,natural gas,etc)
SOURCES
U.S. Census, California Energy Commission, U.S Dept. of Transportation-Federal Highway Administration
