WHAT MATTERS WEBLOG

Now President Obama is taking action to make the USA a more energy-efficient country by introducing new fuel economy standards for cars and trucks. The byproducts will be a more sustainable economy, lower greenhouse gas emissions, cleaner air and a reduced dependence on oil imports.

The new regulations benefit the environment as well as consumers AND the American auto industrywhich will feel even more pressure to move away from building vehicles with really crappy mileage. However, higher gas prices would help even more to free the planet from heavy big vehicles that are killing oil fields all over the world. Ghawar (the world’s largest oil field) is dying, so is the age of gas guzzlers.

By 2016, the U.S. car fleet should meet an average of 35.5 miles per gallon. Thereby, 1.8 billion barrels of oil should be saved by 2016, reducing U.S. oil consumption by 5% a year. This new nationwide standard will requires a 30% reduction in carbon dioxide and other emissions.

Obama admitted that energy-efficient cars may be somewhat pricier initially -  the extra cost per vehicle will be around $1,300 - but the higher purchase price should soon be offset since drivers have to pay less at the pump.

It’s exceptional that most states, unions, environmental groups and the auto industry agreed on these new mileage regulations - the “toughest in U.S. history”. But car makers which depend on government money to survive didn’t have a choice but to appreciate it, and drivers were alerted by $4.00 a gallon gas last summer.

you might also be interested in:

Crude Oil Price Chart 1998 - 2009: Facing the inevitable - oil prices are bound to rise

http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/18/autos/new_fuel_economy_standards/index.htm

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 at 2:35 PM and is filed under Electric Cars & Auto Industry, Energy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.