Posted on 07/31/2011 10:08:00 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
When President Barack Obama announced an agreement to double fuel-economy requirements Friday, standing with him were industry executives and environmental, public health and labor leaders, all of whom, remarkably, had signed off on the deal.
But the real credit for this historic achievement, which is expected to cut oil consumption by 1.5 million barrels per day and eliminate half of all carbon pollution nationwide, doesn't go to the White House.
Instead, thank California.
For decades the state has set the nation's clean-energy agenda; it's been the tip of the spear in the fight for higher fuel standards. Its huge automobile market is a key reason carmakers -- which prefer one national standard -- finally dropped their opposition to a federal increase last year and agreed to a less ambitious deal than the one announced last week. ..
The suits failed, and Obama's Environmental Protection Agency granted California a waiver to enforce its own standards. That's when the carmakers gave in.
So it was great to see Mary Nichols, the head of the California Air Resources Board, sharing the stage with Obama. Nichols was a key player in talks leading to this new agreement, which requires fleets to average 54.5 mpg by 2025, up from the current 27 mpg.
The taxpayer bailout of Detroit also pushed the industry to come around, but we wouldn't be here without California's leadership -- and not just on fuel economy.
As far back as the 1970s, the state adopted rules for refrigerators that the rest of the nation followed. These appliances now have more features but use one-quarter of the energy they did then. Per-capita energy usage has remained steady in California for three decades while rising 40 percent in the rest of the nation.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
if their papers were any tinier, they'd fit in the cracks in the driveway.. it would match their intellects.
all hot air.
need to do a re-write of Blame Canada..
now, off to Indy and some combustion engine racing..
I’m sorry!
Now, with 200mpg, riding roller skates on the Freeways; what a GREAT idea (FOR KALIFORNIA).
Mary Nichols is a joke! California is the “land of the SUV, and the Pickup.” Now that the state has quit “sweetening the pot” for Prius buyers with the ending of the “carpool lane stickers” for these clown cars, no one is buying them. Even here in California the “producers” still want a safe, comfortable car. When ( and if) we get to 54 mpg cars, they are going to be a drug on the market. SUVs are the byproduct of “mandating” the station wagon out of existence with the original CAFE standards.
Correct, and almost no one knows this fact.
CAFE killed the station wagon at a huge net loss of fuel economy.
And my PG&E rates have risen 75% in 3 decades.
My heart flutters.....
THANK YOU CALIFORNIA!!!
Oh, really?
Wouldn't that be like thanking a hooker for giving you a venereal disease...?
bump.
But once engine control computers and fuel injection became universally used, it allowed for very precise fuel metering and ignition timing, which made it possible to dramatically lower emissions without hurting performance and fuel economy. Indeed, the current CARB Ultra-Low Emissions Vehicle Level 2 (ULEV-II) standard has its EPA equivalent: Tier 2 Bin 5, which most auto manufacturers strive to meet for a non-hybrid engine. The arrival of variable valve timing in the middle 1990's on a larger scale (e.g., Honda's pioneering VTEC system) allowed for even more precise control of ignition timing, and soon conventional gasoline engines could even meet the same emissions standard as those for hybrid vehicles.
Yes, I know a lot of people on FR are skeptical, but with engines now starting to get direct fuel injection and soon a really radical design called homogeneous combustion compression-ignition (HCCI), a small car could get over 50 mpg on the EPA 2008 test, possibly as early as 2015.
Thank? More like blame, as every dollar that goes into researching how to squeeze more MPG out of a car means another dollar lost to research to replace gasoline powered cars.
Except that Mary Nichols isn't a Californian. As a native Californian, I've gotten to where I prefer illegal immigrants from Mexico over the illegals from the rest of the US.
HEY Kalifornia!...
Statewide Edict: All motorized / electronic items,
must banned / disabled in this state
....You...you ...J@ck@$$e$
Hey Obama, you want to save fuel and reduce air pollution, how about keeping that wildebeest of a wife of yours on the ground for a change and off OUR airplanes using OUR money so she can act like the Jeffersons and moving on up to the East Side with a DELUXE apartment in the sky.
Ugh... those commies are actually PROUD of this travesty.
I swear, the entire state makes me sick.
“Yes, I know a lot of people on FR are skeptical, but with engines now starting to get direct fuel injection and soon a really radical design called homogeneous combustion compression-ignition (HCCI), a small car could get over 50 mpg on the EPA 2008 test, possibly as early as 2015.”
Oh I am so impressed.
My 1972 Citroen 2CV got over SIXTY mpg.
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