Fuel Efficiency

WASHINGTON - President Obama said Saturday that standards for vehicle fuel economy set under his administration and better cars built by a resurgent U.S. auto industry would save money at the gas pump over the long term, a counterpoint to Republican criticism of his energy policy. In his weekly radio and online address, Obama said Detroit automakers were on track to build cars that average nearly 55 miles per gallon by 2025, doubling current mileage standards. "That means folks will be able to fill up every two weeks instead of every week, saving the typical family more than $8,000 at the pump over time," he said.

With prices at the pump high and threatening to climb higher, we need better, more efficient cars that guzzle less gas. That's why I joined hundreds of my fellow Pennsylvanians at a public hearing in Philadelphia last week to testify in support of new standards that would mean significant savings for drivers, cleaner air, a safer climate, more jobs, and better vehicle choices. A few weeks ago, President Obama proposed strengthening fuel-efficiency and carbon-pollution standards for cars and light trucks to 54.5 m.p.g.

A great mystery of life is why American automakers go ballistic at any demand for better mileage on their SUVs and other light trucks. One can understand why the oilmen don't like fuel efficiency. The more gasoline pumped into the tank, the more money they make. That makes sense. But what's in it for Detroit? After all, the sort of miles-per-gallon increase likely to become law should not be that onerous. The standards are nearly 20 years old. American manufacturers have since made tremendous strides in fuel efficiency.

Although the late, great energy crisis seems to have come and gone, the political fight over yesterday's panic rages on. The big dust-up this fall will be over SUVs, light trucks and minivans. Should the government order Detroit to make them get more miles per gallon? Conservationists say "yes. " Economics 101 says "no. " Let's start with a simple question: Why should the government mandate conservation? When fuel becomes scarce, fuel prices go up. When fuel prices go up, people buy less fuel.

So the government is going to mandate more stringent fuel-efficiency standards for passenger cars, perhaps as high as 56 m.p.g., come 2025, and automakers are worried about what it means for them. My initial response? Tough luck for the automakers. Every time there's a new government mandate, it seems automakers decry how impossible it would be to meet the standard and push for ways to reduce or lower it. Seat belts. Catalytic converters. Air bags. Crash tests. They all met resistance from the folks who make the vehicles we drive.

Contradicting the auto industry and Bush administration, a new study by a consumer activist group says manufacturers can build many more fuel-efficient cars without sacrificing passenger safety. In fact, says the study, released yesterday by the Center for Auto Safety, automakers can cut highway fatality rates by 20 percent over the next decade while boosting fuel efficiency by an astonishing 40 percent. More than 8,000 lives a year could be saved by 2001 if tougher safety standards were applied to passenger cars and trucks, the study said.

Those frustrating lines at the gas pumps during the last decade are washed- out memories now. Like the oil crises that spawned them, they have become almost distant enough to qualify as nostalgia. Gas is plentiful and inexpensive now. People are driving more, and big, powerful cars are back in vogue. Sounds like happy days are here again. Sounds like everything is just ducky in Wheelsville. But Michael Renner isn't so sure. Renner, 30, works for Worldwatch Institute, a non-profit Washington research organization that delves into global problems, then writes papers on them for the world's decision-makers, scholars and interested laymen.

Gasoline prices continue to edge up - to an average of $2.73 a gallon locally - and Clayton Lane continues to buy Toyota Prius cars for PhillyCarShare's fleet of 300 vehicles. "We buy them constantly because they are among the most fuel-efficient cars on the market," said Lane, deputy executive director of the nonprofit agency that promotes shared car ownership. More and more motorists and fleet buyers are doing the same as gasoline prices continue to rise, according to the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.

The Senate rejected a bid yesterday to raise fuel-efficiency standards for all automobiles, including sport-utility vehicles and minivans, bowing to concerns that the move might hurt sales and cost jobs. Sen. Richard Durbin (D., Ill.) sponsored the measure to raise fuel-efficiency targets by 2015, to 40 miles per gallon from 27.5 miles per gallon now, and to apply the standard to popular SUVs and minivans that now must meet a lower standard, 20.7 miles per gallon. He argued that greater fuel efficiency would improve air quality and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil. Motor vehicles consume more than half of all U.S. oil imports.

YOU CAN HAVE YOUR SUV and fuel efficiency, too. You can have safe vehicles and a safer environment, too. You may have to spend a thousand or two extra, but you'll make it back in reduced gas costs. So said the National Academy of Sciences this week in a report that (you should pardon the expression) demolished arguments by the auto industry that we had to choose between our cars and our atmosphere. Or our cars and our safety. The industry claims that fuel efficiency standards lead to more small cars, and more deaths, on the road.

I made a few stops on the way home the other night, which meant my car's engine had to warm up several times and my gas mileage for the trip was down a bit - 55.2 miles a gallon. Yes, I have a Prius. But normally I can do a few miles a gallon better. It was late. Orion was high overhead. And as I stood in the driveway gazing at it, I had a diabolical thought. Normally I put so much effort into increasing my mileage. I drive the speed limit and coast to every red light.

WASHINGTON - President Obama said Saturday that standards for vehicle fuel economy set under his administration and better cars built by a resurgent U.S. auto industry would save money at the gas pump over the long term, a counterpoint to Republican criticism of his energy policy. In his weekly radio and online address, Obama said Detroit automakers were on track to build cars that average nearly 55 miles per gallon by 2025, doubling current mileage standards. "That means folks will be able to fill up every two weeks instead of every week, saving the typical family more than $8,000 at the pump over time," he said.

With prices at the pump high and threatening to climb higher, we need better, more efficient cars that guzzle less gas. That's why I joined hundreds of my fellow Pennsylvanians at a public hearing in Philadelphia last week to testify in support of new standards that would mean significant savings for drivers, cleaner air, a safer climate, more jobs, and better vehicle choices. A few weeks ago, President Obama proposed strengthening fuel-efficiency and carbon-pollution standards for cars and light trucks to 54.5 m.p.g.

So the government is going to mandate more stringent fuel-efficiency standards for passenger cars, perhaps as high as 56 m.p.g., come 2025, and automakers are worried about what it means for them. My initial response? Tough luck for the automakers. Every time there's a new government mandate, it seems automakers decry how impossible it would be to meet the standard and push for ways to reduce or lower it. Seat belts. Catalytic converters. Air bags. Crash tests. They all met resistance from the folks who make the vehicles we drive.

The economy car, for years viewed by many Americans as the unwanted misfit of U.S. showrooms, is fast becoming a jewel that doesn't come cheap. Growing consumer demand for fuel-efficient cars, tight supplies, and automakers' cutbacks in recent months on incentives such as cash rebates and financing deals have increased prices for compact cars, and industry analysts say it's not clear when the trend might ease. Want a small Honda? Toyota? Ford? Don't expect dealers to do you any favors.

Great moments in engineering don't always come from multinational corporations with multizillion-dollar budgets. Sometimes the feats come from hardworking young people - and perhaps a mentor or four. That's just how one of the most fuel-efficient vehicles in the world was built right here, in West Philadelphia, and how the West Philly Hybrid X Team won not one but two national awards for two separate automotive projects this spring. Simon Hauger, electrical engineer turned high school teacher turned consultant, is the power behind the 15-student team from West Philadelphia High School.

As a top executive at Subaru of America Inc. , Thomas J. Doll has traveled to Japan on business many times to meet with his colleagues in Tokyo. The earthquake and tsunami that devastated the northeast coast of Japan on March 11 didn't cause him to change plans to fly out from Newark two days later. However, after landing in Tokyo and learning that the State Department was advising U.S. citizens to avoid travel to Japan, Doll wound up cutting this visit short and returning to Cherry Hill.

It was good to see President Obama approve higher fuel-economy standards. The new rules will benefit consumers and the environment while reducing the demand for foreign oil. The requirements, to take effect on cars and light trucks by 2016, will raise the average fuel economy of new vehicles to 35.5 m.p.g. That impressive increase of about 34 percent in fuel efficiency is the largest single boost in mileage since standards were first imposed in the 1970s. This change will reduce damaging greenhouse gases by about 30 percent.

"Cash for Clunkers" won't single-handedly save the environment, rescue the beleaguered auto industry, or spare consumers from financial distress. But the new $1 billion federal program promises a little help in all three areas, a bit of political symbiosis that explains why the plan motored through Congress three weeks ago on the back of an Iraq war-funding bill. Once it gets rolling later this month, the program will offer incentives of $3,500 or $4,500 to those who buy or lease a more energy-efficient new vehicle.

Last-place starters are not supposed to win major races. Occasionally, however, there are exceptions. Yesterday's Pocono 500 was one of them. Tony Stewart managed a last-to-first journey at Pocono Raceway in taking the NASCAR Sprint Cup series event. He even supplied extra drama by crossing the start/finish line in his Chevrolet almost on fumes. As the points leader, Stewart was scheduled to start on the pole yesterday after Friday's qualifying was rained out. However, during Saturday's morning practice, he damaged his red No. 14 race car when he spun exiting Turn 2. He had to start his backup car at the rear of the 43-car field.