There are few things likely to be more effective in reducing our energy consumption than conservation. We can search for new fuels, spend millions trying develop clean coal technology, drill off the coast to lessen our reliance on foreign oil, but unless we find a way to cut down on the fuel we use, it is unlikely to matter.
President Obama seems to understand this. His administration unveiledplans for higher fuel-efficiency standards plans for higher fuel-efficiency standards that will “mandate an average fuel economy of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025” and are designed to
increase the pressure on auto manufacturers to step up development of electrified vehicles as well as sharply improve the mileage of their mass-market models through techniques like more efficient engines and lighter car bodies.
Current rules for the Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, program mandate an average of about 29 miles per gallon, with gradual increases to 35.5 m.p.g. by 2016.
The standards already have been criticized by Republicans who are referring to the Environmental Protection Agency as the Employment Prevention Agency because of its role in the creation of the new standards.
But the increase in the CAFE figure is long overdue. The Union of Concerned Scientists has been pushing for an increase for years and called the new standards “one of the biggest actions ever taken to reduce U.S. oil use and a huge step on the path toward halving the country’s projected consumption within 20 years.”
“This is truly a watershed moment. Twenty years from now we’ll be looking back on this as the day we chose innovation over stagnation,” said Michelle Robinson, director of UCS’s Clean Vehicles program. “These standards will protect consumers from high gas prices, curb global warming pollution, cut our oil use, and create new jobs in the American auto industry and around the nation.”
The UCS says the standards will
- Cut oil use by as much as 3.1 million barrels per day by 2030 – roughly the amount we import from the Persian Gulf and Venezuela combined;
- Save consumers $8,000 over the life of a model year 2025 vehicle, compared to the average vehicle on the road today, even after paying for fuel-saving technology; and
- Reduce U.S. global warming pollution by as much as 570 million metric tons in 2030, the equivalent of taking a third, or 85 million, of today’s cars and trucks off the road for an entire year.
There is a potential loophole — “inclusion of a critical midprogram review period” sought by the auto industry.
The review, to be conducted at the end of the decade, is meant to assess the progress made toward achieving the 54.5 m.p.g. goal. The standard could then be altered if the manufacturers are struggling to meet the new guidelines.
One industry trade group, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said a “rigorous midterm review” was necessary to determine how consumers reacted to new models that had better mileage but might be more expensive.
“Compliance with higher fuel-economy standards is based on sales, not what we put on the showroom floor,” the alliance said in a statement.
Even with teh loophole — which won’t hit until around 2019 — it is likely that the auto industry will at least make an effort to get the job done and we’ll be saving a significant amount of oil and reducing our emission of carbon into the atmosphere.
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