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"Greater efficiency is the most obvious and most logical answer to an oil pinch. Rejecting it means not only exporting more American dollars but pumping ever-increasing quantities of pollutants and global-warming gases into the atmosphere." Skyrocketing prices at the pump have left American families searching for solutions to high gas prices. While Band-Aid solutions and blame have been plentiful, we must instead examine long-term solutions. There may not be a penicillin for high gas prices, but there is a vaccine: Make America's cars and Sport Utility Vehicles go further on a gallon of gas. The last time fuel economy was raised significantly was 1975, when Congress responded to an oil crisis by instituting Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for cars and light trucks. The result is the most successful energy savings measure ever adopted. By requiring automakers to double the average fuel economy of cars between the mid-1970s through the mid-1980s, Congress led the US to save 3 million barrels of oil every day. CAFE not only slowed the growth in America's oil consumption, but even eliminated it for a time, as the following chart shows. After Congress instituted CAFE in 1975, fuel economy doubled; at the same time safety technology halved the highway fatality rate. However, as the auto industry has sat on its tailpipe, the nation's fuel economy has slid back to the level it was at in 1980. Meanwhile, increases in oil consumption are returning those experienced in the 1970s: Gas Consumption Estimates in Transportation Sector Source: Energy Information Administration State Energy
Data Report 1997 Because CAFE standards have not been increased but the miles driven has skyrocketed, demand for gasoline is at an all-time high today, and growing. In large part, this increase in demand is due to the auto industry's marketing of SUVs and light trucks as passenger vehicles. When Congress passed CAFE, automakers were not required to steadily improve light truck fuel economy because these vehicles comprised only 20% of the fleet and were mainly work vehicles. Today, light trucks and Sport Utility Vehicles, nearly 50% of new vehicles sold, have driven fuel economy to its lowest level since 1980. Nobody would have dreamt of using a pick-up truck to drive kids to school or themselves to work, yet today's SUV is far more likely to be hauling lattes from Starbucks than grain to market. America can achieve energy independence, curb global warming and save millions of dollars at the pump. Some have proposed increased drilling our most pristine places and making our cities dirtier as the answer. However, the facts show that abandoning clean fuels and drilling are not the solutions for America's families. We shouldn't drill for oil under the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, we should drill for oil under Detroit by raising CAFE standards. Real Solution: Raising Fuel Economy Standards The Senate recently jumpstarted the process of making cars go further on a gallon of gas by agreeing to commission a study to be completed by July, 2001 that allows the Department of Transportation to make a recommendation to raise CAFE standards. However, without the political will to raise standards, they will continue to stagnate and Americans will grow more dependent on foreign oil. A Congressional rider has frozen standards since 1994 at 27.5 miles per gallon for cars and 20.7 miles per gallon for SUVs and light trucks. By increasing fuel economy by just 6 percent each year, CAFE standards could reach 45 miles per gallon for cars and 34 miles per gallon for light trucks in a decade. Benefits would be felt long before we could use oil from the Arctic. This would save 1.1 billion barrels of oil annually: more oil than we import from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, estimates of oil in the Arctic, and national offshore oil combined. By achieving CAFE standards of 45 miles per gallon for cars and 34 miles per gallon for SUVs and light trucks, fuel savings would reach over one trillion gallons of gas by 2030. CAFE standards of 45mpg for cars and 34mpg for SUVs and light trucks aren't a pie-in-the-sky idea. The technology exists today, but automakers are keeping much of it on the shelves; and won't revamp their assembly lines to incorporate this technology until required to by law. Improved technology-- more efficient engines, transmissions, better aerodynamics-- was and is the key to achieving improved efficiency. Eighty-five percent of the improvements to fuel economy came from technology changes such as multi-valve engines, better transmissions with electronically controlled gear shifting and four and five speeds rather than three. Better aerodynamics cut down on wind resistance. According the Union of Concerned Scientists, the most popular SUV sold in the US, the Ford Explorer, could go from a gas-guzzler to a 34 mile per gallon vehicle, using just $935 in technology. Consumers would save several times this amount at the gas pump over the lifetime of the vehicle. Families deserve to choose how to spend their money, auto companies using inferior technology shouldn't choose for them. Most of the existing technology is already on America's roads. Honda is already selling the Insight, which gets 70 miles per gallon, and Toyota's Prius goes on sale this summer, getting 55 miles per gallon. These cars are hybrids that use a combination gas-electric engine. A zero-emission clean electric motor powers the vehicle assisted by a highly efficient super-low emission gasoline engine, refillable at any gas station. The energy typically lost to braking is captured, directing it to recharge the batteries. Unlike purely electric vehicles, a hybrid does not need to be plugged in. A look at some popular models shows the potential savings millions of Americans could pocket each year if CAFE standards were raised: If you drive this vehicle, here's how much you'd save annually if Detroit made a 34-mile-per-gallon truck:
If you drive this vehicle, here's how much you'd save annually if Detroit made a 45-mile-per-gallon car:
Savings are based on driving 15,000 miles/year and gas costs at $1.50/gallon and subtracting fuel economy increase. Source: U.S. Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency; www.fueleconomy.gov The minimum step we should take would be to close the SUV loophole, the difference between the fuel economy of cars and that of SUVs and light trucks: Cumulative Total Savings of Closing the SUV loophole: Source: Union of Concerned Scientists Other benefits of closing the loophole are annual savings of $27.1 billion (based on $1.50/gallon) and reducing global warming emissions more than 187 million tons per year, according to the United States Public Interest Research Group. False Solution: Drilling the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge The coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is America's Serengeti. Nestled between the towering mountains of the Brooks Range and the Beaufort Sea in northeast Alaska, the narrow 1.5 million acre coastal plain is the biological heart of this untamed wilderness. It is home to unique and abundant wildlife: wolves, polar bear, musk ox and wolverine. Myriad bird species rely on the coastal plain for breeding, nesting and migratory stopovers on trips as far away as the Baja peninsula, the Chesapeake Bay, and even Antarctica. Drilling the Arctic Refuge would be as shortsighted as damming the Grand Canyon for hydroelectric power or tapping Old Faithful for geothermal energy. It would be as foolhardy as burning the Mona Lisa to keep you warm. We are losing spectacular landscapes at an alarming rate. We must have the foresight to protect one of America's most beautiful natural treasures-- not sacrifice it for a minimal amount of oil. Alaska's North Slope Has Already Been Almost Completely Drilled False Solution: Eliminating Reformulated Gas Reformulated gas was required under authority created by the 1990 Clean Air Act in
cities with high carbon monoxide pollution. Oxygenates added to gasoline, increase the
combustion efficiency of gasoline, thereby reducing vehicle emissions of carbon monoxide.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration Conclusion Rather than searching for a Band-Aid for high gas prices, the time has come to apply
the cure: Make America's cars and SUVs go farther on a gallon of gas. Up to Top HOME | Email Signup | About Us | Contact Us | Terms of Use |
