Matthew Rafat

Commodities, Cap and Trade and Natural Gas

jack kreg: you ignore the fact that not all of America's oil use is used by cars. Of the approximately 20 million barrels of oil consumed each day, 40 percent is used by passenger vehicles, 24 percent by industry, 12 percent by commercial and freight trucks, 7 percent by aircraft, and 6 percent in residential and commercial buildings. (See Energy Information Administration (EIA), Annual Energy Outlook 2004.)

Thus, America can reduce oil consumption by relying more heavily on natural gas for industrial use (24%) and residential/commercial building use (6%). 30% is a significant slice of the energy pie.

I agree that natural gas will not entirely replace oil use in the industrial sector any time soon; however, the cap and trade program provides incentives to reduce oil use in the industrial and residential/commercial building sectors. If the program is successful, American will reduce its reliance on oil for at least 30% of its energy consumption. As such, my comment stands.