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.
To find out what steps are being taken, continue reading on my Fuel Efficiency Page.