Comments on: Disappointing Policy, a Half Mile Short of Inspiration (New CAFE Standards)

By: Disappointing Policy, A Half Mile Short of Inspiration « Bob Higgins

Disappointing Policy, A Half Mile Short of Inspiration « Bob Higgins — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 21:20:58 +0000

[…] posted at Clean Technica: Disappointing Policy, A Half Mile Short of Inspiration Eco World Content From Across The Internet. Featured on EcoPressed Green Laptops: Going […]

By: Vehicle Emissions Standards Create Jobs, Report Finds (+ Top Transportation Stories) | CleanTechnica

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:02:11 +0000

[…] 155,000 jobs in the United States, and there’s the potential for it to create a ton more with proper policies (and if Republican leaders in Congress stop trying to kill a good thing).The Natural Resources […]

By: Mac McDougal

Mac McDougal — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 01:15:00 +0000

The thanks go to you and Cleantechnica. We need you guys.

By: Mac McDougal

Mac McDougal — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 01:14:00 +0000

Thanks for the original post. Keep up the good work and who knows? Things might actually change. For the better

By: Bob Higgins

Bob Higgins — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 21:35:00 +0000

Good job, that’s a keeper.

Thanks

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 19:09:00 +0000

Wow, excellent response, Mac. Thanks for chiming in!

By: Mac McDougal

Mac McDougal — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 18:23:00 +0000

I’m guessing you weren’t around in ’73, Doug, but even ignorance of that particular oil-driven economic convulsion doesn’t really explain your “take the win and be happy” attitude. This ain’t brain surgery; even children today understand that energy economics is a zero-sum game: dollars spent on energy are not spent elsewhere. The question is: do you think spending money elsewhere might yield benefits? There are strong arguments in favor:

WEALTH LOSS
Oil imports take money *out of our economy. Cut it any way you want, the dollars you spend at the pump end up in OPEC nations. The fact that many of those nations are not our friends just makes it worse. (See Kuwait’s record in the UN, Hugo Chavez’s rantings, Iran’s rising nationalism and oil-funded nuclear ambitions, the dirty little Wahabist secret faction supported by Saudi Arabia, countless other examples).

JOB LOSS
Oil imports entail large and unproductive expenditures on “defense.” A dollar spent on defense is a dollar not spent on infrastructure improvement, social programs, civilian technical innovation, and what I personally think should be the next Manhattan Project: the complete greenification of the US built environment. We have many places to put our dollars, Doug. Why do you want to burn them in an IC engine?

INNOVATION LOSS
Most directly, softening MPG standards retards innovation in transport, which retards US job growth *ipso facto. The fact that the calcified business culture in Detroit can’t see this obvious dynamic, doesn’t understand the lesson of the Prius, and doesn’t see that higher MPG standards will actually help them sell more vehicles the global market, doesn’t make this obvious fact any less true.

You may ask yourself why Big Oil and Big Auto are allowed to set climate policy. There are many hypotheses here, but none of them are based on the antique concept of the “public good.” When we let private commercial interests set public policy, we don’t let the fox just guard the henhouse. We let it design and build the henhouse so that it is, and will remain, forever unguardable. Great if you’re a fox. Not so great for the rest of us chickens.

By: Bob Higgins

Bob Higgins — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 22:51:00 +0000

Oops, make that “the 54.5 requirement.”

By: Bob Higgins

Bob Higgins — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 22:47:00 +0000

The “win” as you call it, is too little and far too late. The 27.5 requirement doesn’t phase in until 2025.

By: Breath on the Wind

Breath on the Wind — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 17:13:00 +0000

This raises the issue of how far can we push fuel economy of the internal combustion engine plus transmission ( about 15% efficiency ) before the add on’s bcome so complex that the cost to purchase is too high or we need to turn to a different technology like an electric motor (90% efficiency.)

By: Doug

Doug — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 15:51:00 +0000

I was amazed they pushed beyond the 50mpg milestone. That would have been seen by the majority of Americans as a major environmental win. However, the CAFE standards were pushed 1…2…3…4 more mpg beyond that! Then, they added another 1/2 mpg to add a cherry to their sundae.

Take the win and be happy.