Transportation is vital to our society. From the cars that gets us to work in the morning to the fleet of trucks that transports goods all over the country, not to mention the ships that export around the world, transportation is a necessity to making the world turn, whether it’s our private lives or the world economy. It’s important to understand though that transportation contributes a commanding majority of greenhouse gasses. For this reason, fuel efficiency is a necessity if we are to gain control over global warming. The problem is too big though for one blog post, so rather than talk about the entire transportation industry as a whole, I am going to focus on the automobile industry and specifically the cars we drive.
There are two major effects resulting from the fuel efficiency standard of the automobile industry. The first is its effect on global warming. The less fuel a car burns the less effect that car has on the atmosphere, yet getting the industry to build cars that require less fuel has been an uphill struggle. The second effect is probably the most immediately felt and the more obvious to recognize: the effect fuel efficiency has on our wallets. A car that uses gas more efficiently means we don’t have to keep filling up our tanks during rising gas prices and watching our finances suffer because of it. This reason alone should be enough for the general public to support fuel efficiency. So with these two pressing reasons to generate more fuel efficient cars, both to better serve the environment and the consumer’s wallet, it is important for the automobile industry to commit to more efficient cars. Thankfully, within recent years, they have shown more willingness to do so.
The CAFE Standards
Fuel efficiency is not a new concept at all. The government has attempted to regulate the efficiency of cars before and it was met with a reluctant and resisting industry. In 1975 the CAFE Standards were introduced in response to the ’73 oil embargo. The automobile industry was not willing to cooperate however and resisted the change of standards until recently, believing that the consumer does not want a field efficient car and would rather have a gas-guzzling, high powered vehicle. Fortunately, recent studies have shown that consumers are demanding better fuel efficiency in the wake of rising gas prices.
These standards were designed to focus on cars and light trucks and provide an outline for their fuel efficiency, requiring them to become more efficient over time. The standards are regulated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the fuel efficiency is measured by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Congress declared that the CAFE Standards meet the maximum gain considering four key points: 1) technologically achievable, 2) economically workable, 3) effect of other standards, and 4) the need to conserve energy.
At first believed to be too strict, the automobile industry was resistant to the CAFE standards. In light of recent studies on consumer beliefs, however, the industry has come to support stricter standards. When President Obama announced his plans for stricter CAFE Standards in 2010, the automobile industry supported him, agreeing that a single national standard over an extended period of time would be the best approach to file efficiency. While their change of heart may not be for the right reasons, given that they altered their views after sufficient losses on gas-gizzlers, their willingness to cooperate on fuel efficiency has benefits for everyone, environment and consumer alike. Now the average fuel efficiency set for 2025 is 54.5 mpg, a drastic increase over the previous 27 mpg requirement. With this renewed motivation and gaining support, the greenhouse gas from cars has a hope to become moderated.
| Table 1 – Projected Fleet-Wide Emissions Compliance Levels under the Footprint-Based CO2 Standards (g/mi) and Corresponding Fuel Economy (mpg) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | |
| Passenger Cars (g/mi) | 263 | 256 | 247 | 236 | 225 |
| Light Trucks (g/mi) | 346 | 337 | 326 | 312 | 298 |
| Combined Cars & Trucks (g/mi) | 295 | 286 | 276 | 263 | 250 |
| Passenger Cars (mpg) | 33.8 | 34.7 | 36.0 | 37.7 | 39.5 |
| Light Trucks (mpg) | 25.7 | 26.4 | 27.3 | 28.5 | 29.8 |
| Combined Cars & Trucks (mpg) | 30.1 | 31.1 | 32.2 | 33.8 | 35.5 |
Need for Efficiency
All of this talk about improving fuel efficiency can be a bit foggy, however, without a proper understanding of some of the existing problems in the efficiency of cars. The energy that allows our cars to move obviously comes from gas. Without it, the car just won’t go anywhere. The question is, how much of that energy is being used efficiently?
From the energy being placed in our cars, only about 14% – 26% is being used to move the car. The rest of that energy going elsewhere, as explained in the graph above. Given that information, the room for improvement in fuel efficiency is vast.
Technology
Understanding what fuel efficiency means, it’s then clearer to understand that the automobile industry has great room for improvement when it comes to building their cars and, specifically, their engines. While electric cars are certainly an option for a greener vehicle that is not the only option. Fossil fuels are still usable, but our understanding of how to harness their potential energies is needed as to limit the amount of emissions we give off carelessly. Below is a list of technologies provided by the U.S. government to increase fuel efficiency (for a more detailed explanation of a technology click on its link). There are ways to improve fuel efficiency, it’s only a matter of the automobile industry putting those technologies into effect.
| Engine Technologies | Average Efficiency Increase |
|---|---|
| Variable Valve Timing & Lift improve engine efficiency by optimizing the flow of fuel & air into the engine for various engine speeds. | 5% |
| Cylinder Deactivation saves fuel by deactivating cylinders when they are not needed. | 7.5% |
| Turbochargers & Superchargers increase engine power, allowing manufacturers to downsize engines without sacrificing performance or to increase performance without lowering fuel economy. | 7.5% |
| Integrated Starter/Generator (ISG) Systems automatically turn the engine on/off when the vehicle is stopped to reduce fuel consumed during idling. | 8% |
| Direct Fuel Injection(w/ turbocharging or supercharging) delivers higher performance with lower fuel consumption. | 11-13% |
| Transmission Technologies | Average Efficiency Increase |
|---|---|
| Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVTs) have an infinite number of “gears”, providing seamless acceleration and improved fuel economy. | 6% |
| Automated Manual Transmissions (AMTs) combine the efficiency of manual transmissions with the convenience of automatics (gears shift automatically). | 7% |
Sources
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/f/fuel_efficiency/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier
http://www.epa.gov/otaq/climate/regulations/420f10014.htm
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/atv.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_Average_Fuel_Economy
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/tech_adv.shtml