"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."
Des Moines Register, June 17, 2000: "How to Cut Gas Prices:
Improved Fuel Efficiency Would Help "
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 · 1970: 2,040 million barrels of oil
consumed · 1975: 2,377 million barrels-- 337 million barrel
increase · 1980: 2,357 million barrels-- 20 million barrel
decrease · 1985: 2,434 million barrels-- 77 million barrel
increase · 1990: 2,584 million barrels-- 150 million barrel
increase · 1995: 2,801 million barrels-- 217 million barrel
increase
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:
Dodge Durango 4WD |
Ford Explorer 4WD |
GMC Jimmy 2WD |
15 mpg |
16 mpg |
18 mpg |
$1500/year gas costs |
$1406/year gas costs |
$1250/year gas costs |
Savings: $838 |
Savings: $744 |
Savings: $588 |
If you drive this vehicle, here's how much you'd save annually if
Detroit made a 45-mile-per-gallon car:
Chevy Lumina |
Ford Taurus |
24 miles per gallon |
23 miles per gallon |
$938/year gas costs |
$978/year gas costs |
Savings: $438 |
Savings: $478 |
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; http://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: · 2010:
63.74 billion gallons of gas · 2020: 244.4 billion gallons of gas
· 2030: 420.8 billion gallons of gas
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 · 95% of Alaska's vast North Slope is
already available for oil and gas exploration and leasing. · The
coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge is the last 5% off-limits to
drilling.
Big Oil's Allies Want Big Profits
· Although Senator Frank Murkowski (R-AK), who is leading the
fight to drill the Arctic Refuge, portrays himself as fighting for
lower oil prices, he has worked to increase oil prices. For example,
in 1995, Murkowski led the Senate fight to end a ban on exporting
Alaskan oil. According to the Anchorage Daily News, "For British
Petroleum, the North Slope's largest producer, lifting the
oil-export ban is a piece of a larger market strategy to drive up
prices."
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.
Carbon monoxide is a serious health threat that enters the
bloodstream through the lungs and inhibits the blood's capacity to
carry oxygen to organs and tissues. Individuals with chronic heart
diseases are particularly sensitive to carbon monoxide exposure.
Carbon monoxide can also affect healthy individuals by impairing
exercise capacity, visual perception, manual dexterity, learning
functions, and ability to perform complex tasks, according to the
EPA.
The Federal government estimates that reformulated gas
only adds between 5-7 cents per gallon, which does not account for
the inflated prices in the Midwest, where prices have skyrocketed
recently.
Most opponents of reformulated gas opposed the
Clean Air Act of 1990. They are trying to use consumer
dissatisfaction with high prices to overturn the clean air
improvements they couldn't beat on the merits.
Their arguments fall flat for two
reasons:
Abnormal Price Fluctuations ·
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is currently looking into price
gouging. · While prices jumped unusually fast on June 1 when new
gas rules went into effect, they went down just as fast once the FTC
began investigating the matter. · According to the Associated
Press, while wholesale prices in Chicago dropped from $1.60 a gallon
on June 15 to $1.31 by June 17, retail prices at the pump increased
by two pennies to $2.13 during the same week.
Record
Quarterly Profits for Big Oil · The 15 largest petroleum
companies saw profits more than triple from the first quarter of
1999 to the first quarter of 2000 to $9.4 billion. · The bulk of
the profits came from oil and gas production, where profits rose
511% to $3.88 billion in the first quarter of 2000 from $636 million
in the first quarter of 1999. · Profits for independent petroleum
companies increased 350 percent from the first quarter of 1999 to
the first quarter of 2000.
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.
Behind most false solutions lurks
a hidden agenda. Oil companies are using the situation to eliminate
clean air laws they couldn't beat on the merits, conservatives are
looking for a back door method to cut taxes, and some Senators are
attempting to revive dead efforts to drill national treasures.
Our oil situation represents a unique version of supply and
demand. We have no control over supply and total control over
demand, yet we're just not using it. OPEC has a stranglehold over
supply, and pillaging pristine ecosystems for a quick fix of oil
won't affect that equation and won't lower gas prices. Only by using
existing technology to improve the efficiency of cars, light trucks
and SUVs can we break OPEC's grasp and cut prices for American
drivers.
We have the technology and the need to increase fuel
economy. Now we need the will.
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