Green Cars=Less Oil use?

The New York Times recently had an editorial on the Obama’s administration push for more mpg on cars. It’s the largest advancement in fuel efficiency in the past 30 years. The author, who is aiming the article at the less environmentally friendly folks, since the environmentalist, arguably, would already be in agreement with him, believes that these changes are great but not enough. The author makes several points (European and Asian fuel standards, as well as goals to increase, with dates) that show that they have at least done some research into their statements, but bases some arguments on incorrect information, or lack of research.

The author claims that the US is falling behind the rest of the developed nations in fuel efficiency, that even the new standards we set, are behind what Europe’s current fuel efficiency is. The problem with this is that Europe is constantly increasing their fuel efficiency, a little bit over times, year over year. The US hasn’t had a legally required raise in fuel efficiency in over 30 years. While it is possible to achieve the goals Europe has set (since European car makers obviously meet them) I believe it will take more time to ramp up to where other nations are. We will eventually catch up, but the new technologies required will take time to innovate and get into production.

The author points out that raising fuel efficiency will lower reliance on foreign oil. This is a flawed argument. While raising fuel efficiency will lower consumption of gas and thus oil, it won’t necessarily reduce foreign consumption, the US currently exports about 500 million barrels of oil a year, with a weakening demand for oil consumption, US companies would export more oil to other countries that were willing to pay more for it, providing less oil domestically. On top of this, according to the US Department of Energy, only 28% of US oil consumption is used for transportation, of that 28% only 61% is used for automobile fuel. The demand for oil wouldn’t fall drastically enough that the US could start meeting its’ own demand.

I agree that better fuel efficiency is better for everyone, but the pace at which it is occurring is fine with me. It won’t drastically reduce dependence on foreign oil, magically make the air instantly cleaner or make the US the world leader in environmental issues.