The Half the Oil Plan

The United States is currently on track to consume some 22 million barrels of oil every day by 2035. This enormous oil use pollutes our air, warms the globe, and costs drivers billions at the pump.

The solution is to use less oil. Scientists, engineers, and analysts have constructed a plan—Half the Oil—to halve U.S. oil use. By investing in a modern transportation system, we can save more than 11 million barrels of oil per day by 2035—cleaning the air, slowing global warming, and saving drivers money.

Here’s how the plan works.

Oil savings through efficiency

The Half the Oil Plan starts by improving the efficiency of our vehicles, homes, and businesses—common-sense, affordable solutions that could save nearly 8 million barrels of oil per day by 2035.

Oil Savings Strategies	Oil Savings (millions of barrels per day) in 2035*
Double the fuel efficiency of new cars and light trucks by 2025.	4 mbd
Double the fuel efficiency of most commercial vehicles (delivery trucks, buses, and big rigs) by 2030.	1 mbd
Make planes, trains, and ships more fuel-efficient.	0.5 mbd
Retrofit buildings to use less energy, make boilers more efficient, and adopt substitutes for oil to heat our homes and manufacture goods.	2 mbd

Oil savings through innovation

New technologies and innovations like electric vehicles and biofuels are the second major component of Half the Oil—saving over 4 million barrels of oil per day by 2035.

Oil Savings Strategies	Oil Savings (millions of barrels per day) in 2035*
Unleash the full potential of electric vehicles so that more than 40 percent of new vehicles sold by 2035 run on electricity instead of oil.	1.5 mbd
Produce 40 billion gallons of better biofuels from non-food sources like perennial grasses and waste products.	1.5 mbd
Expand transportation options.	1.5 mbd