According to the St. Louis Dispatch article, Auto Industry makes strides toward improving fuel economy, auto industries have been working on producing more “fuel-efficient models” With the concern of leaving less of a carbon footprint, car manufacturers have worked long and hard to alter their tactics while avoiding the whole idea that small-cars are the only option for an improved fuel economy.
“Under the new federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, the auto industry has agreed to produce fleets of vehicles that average 35.5 miles a gallon by 2016 and 54.5 miles a gallon by 2025” Considering the average is around 25 mpg, that’s pretty incredible to hear. And with Obama’s initiative to clean up this planet, his National Clean Car Program is believed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by quite a bit. This will lower the dependency on oil, which will then save us all the gas money we’re currently spending AND diminish the crazy demand for oil and all that comes with it.
According to The NY Times article, U.S. Sets Much Higher Fuel Efficiency Standards, “Americans would reduce their oil consumption by 12 billion barrels over the course of the program” That’s a whole lot of oil. Although this sounds fantastic, there is a concern (mostly expressed by Mitt Romney) that while saving money on gas, (keep in mind that the average fuel savings of one American would result in more than $8,000 by 2025) you wouldn’t be really saving much, considering the upfront cost (expensive). Ok Mitt, I see your point, for once.
But you have to remember that once oil prices had (dramatically) risen in the 80s-90s, this “pushed many drivers to buy more fuel-efficient vehicles”. So either circumstance is not really going to save much money, except for the fact that we’d be saving the earth. Yeah, that might be the deciding factor for me.