Automakers facing a 75 mpg CAFE rating by 2030?
The Big Predictions for the Future have begun. This is the numbers game where eye-popping numerical targets start being thrown around before we've come anywhere close to achieving the eyebrow raising targets that are still 14 years away. According to Margo Oge at the EPA, the CAFE standard will need to jump to 75-MPG by the 2030s to meet greenhouse targets.There is, somewhere, a "widely backed scientific-community proposal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50 to 80 percent by 2050 from 2000 levels." Based on current realities, the EPA has reckoned that the fleet average for fuel economy would need to more than double from the 2020 target of 35 mpg in about 15 or so years in order to achieve even the minimum standard.
The EPA is looking at a variety of alternative fuel options as a way to make the plan work. Yet we have no idea whether this is being looked at as a serious long term plan, or whether grand pronouncements are being made because it's the thing to do right now. While we freely admit that the world of cars could use some cleaning up, we do wonder... is any other industry going to be on the hook for reducing greenhouse gasses?
[Source: Detroit News]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Tragedy 8:06AM (4/16/2008)
Well, this is something that doesn't concern the older guys who read this blog. You'll all be dust n bones by then!
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geo.stewart 8:31AM (4/16/2008)
In 50 yrs, we'll find out that we need greenhouse warming in order to avoid the next ice age....
We are overdue to start one, based on some reports. Science is becoming less about methods, research, and diligence and more about making a name for oneself, thus the increase in science fads and lack of long term studies.
All the computer models, supposedly to accelerate research, done are created by people who have a hypothesis in place and so they build parameters to support their model.
lunartic 10:04AM (4/16/2008)
Thank you. That is the best news I have received today.
Ligor 11:26AM (4/16/2008)
The French had a 375cc engine making 9HP back in the day and people usually got 90+mpg out of it
I guess we're looking forward to those times again
Flashpoint 8:18AM (4/16/2008)
I woulda' made it 100.
I'd also demand all manufacturers have ultrasonic backup standard.
People argue that USB shouldn't be forced but I don't care what they say - it should be. Just like seatbelts and airbags.
If you can't afford to buy a car because of these additions then you can just take mass transit.
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david 9:32AM (4/16/2008)
What about places where there is no mass transit? I live in Bozeman, MT and we only recently got buses.
Get off your high horse buddy.
Flashpoint 8:18AM (4/16/2008)
I woulda' made it 100.
I'd also demand all manufacturers have ultrasonic backup standard.
People argue that USB shouldn't be forced but I don't care what they say - it should be. Just like seatbelts and airbags.
If you can't afford to buy a car because of these additions then you can just take mass transit.
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paul34 5:46PM (4/16/2008)
Also, not everyone lives with everything they need crammed into an area of 3 city blocks.
Some people live in these crazy places... I can't remember what they are called, but I believe they are pretty rare in the United States... I think they are called "suburbs"?
That One Person 1:09PM (4/17/2008)
Mass transit isn't the answer to everything.
A friend of mine takes the bus to work everyday. Guess how long it takes by car. 15 minutes. By bus? 2 freakin' hours! Now, if that were me, I would have to be up at 4am every freakin' morning! Now, if I had a 4 am start (which I sometimes have during the winter), I would have to be up around 1 am...and that's after working until 8 or 9pm the night before. No thanks, pal.
Drewboy 8:22AM (4/16/2008)
Huh. Seems to me, that this is much less about greenhouse gas targets, and a much more about peak oil.
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refugee7 2:29PM (4/16/2008)
http://businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/apr2008/db20080415_868659.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_businessweek+exclusives
Eh, not yet.
Rob 8:23AM (4/16/2008)
Anyone who votes Democrat, you better get used to this. All bow at Al Gore's altar of Global Warming. To heck with any facts. We have to save the planet. An entire planet cannot survive unless Al Gore makes millions by selling carbon credits. Grease up, here it comes.
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FSM 8:37AM (4/16/2008)
Yeah because Al Gore is the secret leader of the democratic party and is making all of these laws using his secret mind control ray from his polar ice base. Either that or maybe there are a large number of us out there that truly believe that drastic measures need to be taken to curb our reliance on oil and/or prevent climate change so devastating that you will be more worried about where your next meal is coming from rather than worrying about how dumb you look in a prius.
Rob 8:48AM (4/16/2008)
Get real FSM. Man-made CO2 accounts for 0.0035% of our atmosphere. Which do you think has a greater impact on our climate - something that comprises .0035% of our atmosphere or a giant thermonuclear furnace 1 million times the size of earth that is only 8 light minutes away? Get real. World temps have flat-lined since 1998, yet there's more CO2 in the atmosphere because of the improved economy in China and India. St. Al says this wasn't supposed to happen. World temps were warmer 1000 years ago than they are now. Why? The warming we saw between 1950 and 1998 was normal. It had happened before and it will happen again. Sometimes the temps rise, sometimes they fall. It's normal and there is nothing we can do about it. But if Al Gore and his disciples admit we are powerless to do anything about global warming or cooling, then they lose their speaking fees, carbon credit profits, and research grants. Notice they don't call it Global Warming any more? Two reasons, first they know the earth stopped warming in 1998. Second, if they call it Climate Change, they can blame man for anything. If it gets warm, it's our fault (or Bush's fault). If it gets cold, it's our fault. Either way, they make money and come up with ways to control your life (e.g., banning incandescent light bulbs).
It's the sun, stupid.
rar 9:49AM (4/16/2008)
Rob, I don't give a $hit about Al Gore, and I am not sold on the fact that man is the cause of global warming, but would it not be a good thing if we stop buying oil from people that hate us?
Mez Jr 11:07AM (4/16/2008)
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_impcus_a2_nus_ep00_im0_mbbl_m.htm
that is a link to the Energy Information Administration about where we get our oil from, and how much etc. Just take a glance at it and you'll see its a pretty wide distribution, so claiming that we get oil from people who hate us is pretty naive. We get oil from pretty much everyone who makes it, some people are bound to dislike the US others, not so much.
Our single largest source for oil is Canada, more than the entire Persian gulf.
Rob 11:08AM (4/16/2008)
rar - you're right. It'd be a great idea. But Al Gore and his minions won't let us drill or add refinery capacity. An oil company in Arizona wanted to build a new refinery. They started the approval process in 1995. It took 10 years just to get the air quality study approved. They hope to break ground in 2010. Considering it takes 15 years just to get a new refinery approved, much less built, why should they spend millions on new refineries when at any point some environmental group or EPA bureaucrat can stop them in their tracks. Who needs the hassle?
Ligor 11:38AM (4/16/2008)
Hey Rob,
relax,
take a look at some of the cities where all you can see if fog all day
i guess that's normal, keep breathing the shhiiit that comes out of the tailpipe it's also normal
But I do think there is some blowing up of thing, and i'm betting the concrete roads we build and forest we cut on a daily basis have more impact on economy than anything else we can do
BBC just reported that China is now producing more green house gases than the US, adn as a per person basis they still produce lessthan 1/3 when compared to the US. The Chinese gov't responded by stating that their people have the right to live just like the people in the US and produce jsut as much green house gases as a persoon in the US - They asl showed some pics of the cities adn some were so foggy you could barely see anything after 15 yards - is that how we want our kids to live?
rar 11:39AM (4/16/2008)
Mez Jr, I understand your point but the third and fourth largest suppliers are Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Some say the Saudis are our friends, but I dont buy that. Rember the 911 hijackers? I don't think Hugo Chávez is on our list of best friends either.
Disgruntled Goat 11:51AM (4/16/2008)
So this is where all the global oil and energy experts hang out all day? Good to see you PhDs have a good handle on this thing. For a minute I wasn't sure we knew how to solve this mess we've gotten ourselves into.