Bikes & Cars...

On Earth Day this week, Secretary Mary Peters of the Transportation Department announced a proposal that would require car makers to raise average fuel efficiency at a faster pace than Congress asked for last December. Congress set a baseline of a 3.3% increase each year from 2010-2015; the new proposal would raise that to 4.5% each year.

That means the current average of 25.7 miles per gallon for passenger cars would go up to 35.7 mpg by 2015, while light trucks would be raised to 28.6 mpg by 2015. According to a New York Times article, car makers are already headed in the right direction, thanks to consumer demand. Since buyers are increasingly interested in better fuel economy for ecological and economical reasons, the current average of cars purchased and driven off the lot is over 31 mpg.

It could be worse for car manufacturers -- if they didn't accept this proposal, they might have had to take on California's far stricter fuel-saving measures. The new standards fall between California's aggressive policy, which would raise fuel economy to an average 42.5 mpg by 2015, and the wimpy regulations passed by Congress, which required automakers to hit 35 mpg by 2020.

The general car-maker consensus seems to be relief at not having to deal with patchwork, state-by-state rules or, worse, a bunch of states aping California's tough stance. Given that our dollars have already upped U.S. fuel economy above the requirement, and the fact that Hummer sales are down (yay!), we little people can have more of an influence on clean air and gas-guzzling than than we think.

Photo by constantskepticupdates.