Feds announce 54.5 miles-per-gallon CAFE Standards

  As an old runner I used to dream of 26.2 miles, but had to settle for 13.1 (now down to 6.2 in my dotage).

ByRochelle Jenks:In August, 2012, the government published the 2025 standards for automakers. The Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards require the average fuel efficiency of new cars and trucks to be 54.5 miles per gallon.

According to news reports, the Obama administration is talking to automakers about raising the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standard for passenger cars to 56.2 miles per gallon by 2025, more than double the 27.5 MPG in force for the 20 years up to 2010. Economists, even those like myself who favor policies to reduce fuel use, have argued that CAFE standards are a bad idea. Has anything changed to make stricter fuel economy standards look better now than in the past?

In July 2011, the Obama administration announced the new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards that will begin taking effect in 2017. The standards for U.S. light-duty vehicle fleets (passenger vehicles and light-duty trucks) will be 54.5 miles per gallon (mpg) by 2025, and they piggyback on the 2009 mandate for a CAFE average of 35.5 mpg by 2016, up from 27.3 mpg in 2011.

By John Petersen:Last Friday President Obama and executives from thirteen leading automakers gathered in Washington DC to announce an historic agreement to increase fleet-wide fuel economy standards for new cars and light trucks from 27.5 mpg for the 2011 model year to 54.5 mpg for the 2025 model year.

North America’s shale fields are the most visible symbol of the energy revolution, but they tell less than half the story. An even bigger transformation is taking place in the engines and fuel tanks of cars and trucks across the United States. High oil prices, recession and tougher fuel economy standards have combined to cut 5.5 million barrels per day from projected U.S. oil consumption in 2020, according to an analysis of forecasts published in recent years by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

CALGARY — A land dispute with Shell Canada Ltd. is threatening Teck Resources Ltd.’s first standalone oil sands project, adding uncertainty to the miner’s push into energy as it awaits a final decision on a separate joint venture with Suncor Energy Inc. Teck, which holds a 20% stake in the proposed Fort Hills oil sands mine, already faces the prospect of a delay on that venture as Suncor, the project operator, reviews the profitability of expansion plans.

As oil continues to pour into the Gulf of Mexico, I thought it might be helpful to review how we got where we are today.