Conservation vs. Consumption: France vs. US

5 October 2004

A report in the New York Times contrasts the approaches and the results the US and France have had with respect to reducing dependency on oil since the oil shocks of the 1970s. Some excerpts:

Spurred by the oil shocks of the 1970’s, France embarked on a vast state-led drive to flush out as much oil from its economy as possible. With the national slogan at the time, “We don’t have oil, but we have ideas,” it accelerated the shift of electricity production from oil-fired power plants to nuclear reactors, increased taxes on gasoline to the equivalent of $3.75 a gallon, encouraged the sale of diesel-powered cars and gave tax breaks to energy-hungry industries like aluminum, cement and paper to shift from oil to other fuels.

It worked. In contrast to the United States, where oil consumption initially fell but then ended up rising by a total of 16 percent from 1973 to 2003, in France, despite some increase in recent years, oil use is still 10 percent lower today than it was three decades ago, according to the United States Energy Information Administration. (Germany also matched France’s record.)

The contrast between French resolve and American abandon in recent years is sharp. The United States, too, took the high road in the 1970’s and early 80’s, when the combined impact of the 1973 oil embargo, the growing power of OPEC and the Iranian revolution of 1979 created long gas lines and raised the prospect of an oil producers’ stranglehold over the American economy.

But slowly, the nation resumed old habits. By the late 1980’s, with the economy booming and oil prices below $20 a barrel, gas guzzlers were back, cars raced along highways at 75 m.p.h. with impunity and new vehicles' average mileage per gallon, which had almost doubled to 27.5 in 1987 from 14 in 1972, slipped back to 24, compared with Europe’s 36.

To be sure, the depiction of the United States as the world’s energy wastrel and of France as a model of virtue can be overdrawn. All developed countries have significantly improved their energy efficiencies in manufacturing and construction since 1973. Moreover, oil’s slice of global energy demand has fallen to 35 percent today from 45 percent 30 years ago.

Still, oil will remain the main source of energy for decades to come, and official projections still show oil consumption in the United States rising by 43 percent by 2025.

There is a significant amount of discussion within the article about the essential impossibility (“political suicide”) of imposing higher gas taxes in the US. I understand the assessment, but it’s past time not to be timid. (Price of oil currently at $51+/barrel.)

A gas tax doesn’s solve the problem, but if it reduces actual miles driven, and pushes the fleet over to more fuel-efficient vehicles, it does give us more time to solve the problem. I think there are two conditions that must be met to have such a policy put in place. First is an campaign explaining why. Second is a clear explanation as to how that money would be used—and that should be in related areas of efficiency, biofuels research, renewables, etc.