Saturday, December 8, 2007

Fuel Efficiency Standards

The House voted for increased fuel efficiency standards, but the Senate has not. It is hard to believe that our domestic auto manufacturers cannot meet the proposed standards. We already have cars that can get 35 mpg, they are called small and light. If Toyota can make a profit selling these cars, why can't US auto makers? As someone observed, "What exists proves what is possible."
During the oil embargo, Clinton led us to a 55 mph speed limit. Such a limit for all relieves us all of the burden of trying to get one up on our fellows by more horsepower and size. Would the quality of our lives really suffer if we were more modest? Many Europeans seem to enjoy it.

2 comments:

Tracy said...

Or in the informal area, if all of us who think that the SUV behemoths are foolish and wasteful said so, perhaps our neighbors would stop buying them. I disagree on the lower speed limit, however. I suspect that too many people are now living in the western U.S.(where the consequences of such legislation are heavier) for such strictures to be politically safe.

Allan Schmid said...

Good point. The speed limit might vary somewhat by region.