The standard was raised to 35mpg by 2020 and that is still the current law.
Provisions of final version
Incandescent light bulbs will be phased out in the U.S. beginning January, 2012.The bill signed into law in December 2007 was an 822-page document changing U.S. energy policy in many areas.[7]
Key provisions were:
Energy security
Increased CAFE standards. Automakers are required to boost fleetwide gas mileage to 35 mpg (14.8 km/l) by 2020. This applies to all passenger automobiles, including "light trucks".
Required vehicle technology and transportation electrification. Incentives for the development of plug-in hybrids.[8]
New conservation requirements for federal vehicle fleets.
Taxpayer funding for increased production of biofuels. The total amount of biofuels added to gasoline is required to increase to 36 billion gallons by 2022, from 4.7 billion gallons in 2007. The Energy Act further specifies that 21 billion gallons of the 2022 total must be derived from non-cornstarch products (e.g. sugar or cellulose).
Energy savings
Revised standards for appliances and lighting.
Requires roughly 25 percent greater efficiency for light bulbs, phased in from 2012 through 2014. This effectively bans the sale of most current incandescent light bulbs.
Various specialty bulbs, including appliance bulbs, colored lights, and 3-way bulbs, are exempt from these requirements.
Requires roughly 200 percent greater efficiency for light bulbs, or similar energy savings, by 2020.
New initiatives for promoting conservation in buildings and industry.
Requires all lighting in Federal buildings to use Energy Star products.
New standards and grants for promoting efficiency in government and public institutions. New and renovated federal buildings must reduce fossil fuel use by 55% (from 2003 levels) by 2010, and 80% by 2020. All new federal buildings must be "carbon-neutral" by 2030.
Taxpayer funding of research and development of solar energy, geothermal energy, and marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy technologies.
Expanded federal research on carbon sequestration technologies.
Green jobs - creation of a training program for "Energy efficiency and renewable energy workers".
Energy transportation and infrastructure. New initiatives for highway, sea and railroad infrastructure. Creation of the Office of Climate Change and Environment in the Department of Transportation.
Small business energy programs, offering small businesses loans toward energy efficiency improvements.
Smart grid - modernization of the electricity grid to improve reliability and efficiency.
Pool safety - new federal standards for drain covers and pool barriers.
[edit] Proposals not enacted
Title I of the original bill, the “Ending Subsidies for Big Oil Act of 2007,” denied certain tax deductions to producers of oil, natural gas, or primary products of oil or natural gas, and increased from five to seven years the period during which five major integrated oil companies must write off their expenditures on geological and geophysical studies related to oil exploration.
Title II, the “Royalty Relief for American Consumers Act of 2007,” addressed an oversight that occurred when the Interior Department issued oil and gas leases for off-shore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico in 1998 and 1999. The leases didn’t include price thresholds that require companies to pay royalties to the Federal Government when the price of oil and gas exceeds a certain level. These companies would be required to renegotiate their leases to include price thresholds that are equal or less than thresholds described in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. Companies who failed to renegotiate their leases or pay the fees would not be allowed to obtain any oil or gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico.
Title II also repealed several provisions of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. One provision suspended royalty fees on oil and gas production in certain waters of the Gulf of Mexico. A provision of the Energy Policy Act that protects drilling permit applicants from additional fees to recover the cost of processing paperwork would also be repealed, and special policies for leases in the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska and royalty relief for specific offshore drilling in Alaska would be discontinued.
Title III of the bill created a Strategic Energy Efficiency and Renewables Reserve, an account to hold additional money received by the Federal Government as a result of the enactment of the act, and to offset the cost of subsequent legislation. |
