Recommendations
1) Improve auto efficiency by raising mileage-per-gallon (CAFE) standards for new cars and
light trucks.
Raising Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards in the U.S. to 45 miles per gallon for cars and 34 miles per
gallon for light trucks by 2005 is the biggest single step the U.S. can take to curb global warming and reduce our dependence
on oil.
Cars and light trucks are responsible for over 20 percent of total U.S. CO2 emissions (EIA, 1993, Table 8). If CAFE
standards do not increase, and if the current rate of growth of vehicle miles traveled continues, CO2 emissions from the
nation's transportation sector will increase by as much as 40 percent by 2005 (Clark, 1991, p. 42).
The key to improving the fuel economy of cars and light trucks is cost effective technology. By simply adding existing
technology to their vehicles, automobile manufacturers can slash global warming pollution and save consumers money at the
same time. More efficient engines and transmissions deliver the same acceleration as today's gas guzzlers while saving gas.
New materials and technologies are available that can make cars both lighter and stronger, reduce aerodynamic drag, and
lower tire rolling resistance, all of which will improve vehicle efficiency without requiring smaller cars (U.S. OTA, October
1991, p.3).
Honda proved this point when it produced the Honda Civic VX. The Civic VX performs as well as its twin, the Civic DX, and
gets 55% better gas mileage because it incorporates these technologies. The difference in price: $700, which the average
driver would recover at the gas pump in one to two years of driving.
Further improving CAFE standards will help the economy. By saving 3 million barrels of oil daily, CAFE standards would curb
our oil imports and energy costs and would lower our balance of trade deficit (one third of which is attributable to oil imports).
A study by ACEEE shows that higher fuel economy will actually create jobs (Geller, 1992). Although some sectors of the
economy, such as the oil industry, will experience some job losses, ACEEE estimates the auto industry alone will gain 47,000
new jobs. ACEEE found that money saved at the gas pump would be reinvested throughout the economy, creating a net
increase of 244,000 new jobs nationwide. A Sierra Club/U.S. PIRG study (Freeman, et al., June, 1994) concluded that
increased CAFE standards would save families as much as $576 per year at the gas pump.
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