Congress Passes Legislation to Increase MPG Standards
Wednesday, December 26th, 2007On December 18th, congress passed new legislation that commits to fighting our oil addiction. Among other things, the bill’s main objective is to increase the minimum mileage standard on cars, light trucks, and SUVs from the current 25 mpg to 35 mpg in 2020. This marks the first time since 1975 that this standard has been increased. It also requires increased efficiency in lighting, appliances, and commercial and government buildings. Another major point of the bill calls for a 6-fold increase in US ethanol production to over 36 billion gallons a year by 2022. With these changes, the average US driver will save approximately $700-1000 a year at the pump, according to lawmakers, while reducing our dependence on foreign oil sources.
This new law is not perfect though. The massive increase in ethanol production will rely on technologies that we currently don’t have. There is a lot of work left to be done to deliver the inputs needed for ethanol’s growth. We can’t afford to budget any more corn into ethanol production, so this increase is going to have to come from other sources, such as switchgrass and algae. Then there is the issue of how energy efficient producing ethanol is. If we can’t produce it in an energy-positive way, force feeding the industry for the next 15 years won’t lead us very far.
Many automakers are opposed to the new standards. They argue that their offerings could be limited to comply with the regulations, and the industry could suffer for it. There’s also questions of vehicle safety, as automakers make sacrifices to improve efficiency in any way they can. Those opposed to the law would rather see incentives for companies that improve the mileage of their cars, rather than an industry-wide mandate. However, if the price of oil keeps going north, automakers will be forced to improve mileage much faster even than the bill requires.
I understand the points made by the auto industry, but I still think this is a very good move by congress. Consumers will demand higher mileage vehicles on their own if gas prices are high enough, but this new bill will require it no matter what the gas prices are doing. I’m not so optimistic about the ethanol portion of this bill, but it’s good to see the US government doing more than paying lip-service to our addiction.