Environmental Update Main Global Warming Main A Dangerous Experiment: Overview Hot News The Biggest Single Step SUVs and Global Warming Clean Car Campaign Maps - Where's Global Warming Happening? Global Warming & Your Health Vanishing Wildlife & Habitat Clean Energy Alternatives Ten Things You Can Do Articles and Factsheets Get Involved Search the Global Warming Pages

Driving Up the Heat: SUVs and Global Warming Switching from driving an average car to a 13mpg SUV for one year would waste more energy than if you... Left your refrigerator door open for 6 years Left your bathroom light burning for 30 years or Left your color television turned on for 28 years In this report: Background The SUV Threat Pollution Energy Security Safety Take Action Background When it comes to wasting energy, SUVs are unrivaled. Built with outdated, gas-guzzling technology, many SUVs get just 13 miles per gallon. And the higher gas prices are, the more money they waste. Auto-industry advertising portrays SUVs as the ticket to freedom and the great outdoors. Commercials depict them climbing massive snow-capped mountains or tearing through desert sand dunes, taking their owners into the wild. In reality, the only off-road action many of these vehicles see is accidentally driving through a flower bed next to the driveway. Missing from these ads are other contributions from SUVs—the brown haze of air pollution hanging over many of our national parks, images of weather disasters linked to global warming or the oil derricks and tankers needed to feed gas-guzzling SUVs. In contrast to Detroit's carefully crafted image, SUVs have a dark side. They spew out 43 percent more global-warming pollution and 47 percent more air pollution than an average car. SUVs are four times more likely than cars to roll over in an accident and three times more likely to kill the occupants in a rollover. They also cost the owner thousands more on gasoline. The SUV Threat | Pollution | Energy Security | Safety Take Action | SUV Report Home Up to Top