http://tugatnature.wordpress.com/2010/10/05/the-road-to-more-fuel-efficient-cars/
Lately, the U.S. has been continuing to reduce oil consumption, and there is both good and bad news coming from that. The good news is that automakers have been selling American cars with more fuel efficient engines. Surprisingly, 25 years ago an engine could only extract half as much power from a gallon of gas as today. The problem is that over the years cars have been increasing in size and power, so more oil is being consumed by these vehicles. While trying to make cars more fuel efficient, we have actually just been making cars bigger with more muscle.
It is possible that in a short amount of time automakers will be pressured to meet certain fuel economy standards. There are also gas tax proposals that haven't gotten much political support. The most recent proposal for standards is to achieve 34 mpg for new cars and trucks by 2016. Some groups have even set requirements of up to 60 mpg! These new standards would add approximately $950 to the price of the car, but save $4000 in fuel costs over the entire life of the car.
Opinion: There are many different opinions and ideas on this topic. I believe that we should set requirements to save on both fuel costs and efficiency, but not right at the moment. We definitely need to give automakers time to engineer these fuel efficient cars and be able to sell them at a reasonable price. Six years may be too short of a time frame to complete this task, but we do need to seriously think about changing our ways. With the billions of cars constantly driving everywhere, standards should be set. I for one care a lot about the environment, so if this will help, I'm all for it.
1) What year do you think is a reasonable time to force automakers to have made this adjustment?
2) How much do you think these standards will help the environment (particularly the pollution)?
3) Do you think the majority of the population will agree to buying these improved cars for a higher price, or rather stick to the cheaper vehicles that are worse for the environment?
Didn't this topic come up in class one time? I'm not certain though. The standards for a certain amount of miles per gallon is a great idea. The only problem it may cause is how well they would sell given the current economic stage. Though, if automakers eventually make majority of the cars the standard 34-60 mpg, most Americans won't have a choice to get another car, resulting in a hopeful positive for the environment. Right now my family has a 2010 GMC Yukon XL. It's a bus! The only downside to it is that its mileage is quite awful. It's approximately 14 mpg, but it is a perfect car for us. We always have to lug around sports equipment and packages. I'm hoping that down the road there won't be any car with that bad of mileage. #1. I think that a reasonable year for automakers to have this adjsutment made is 2020. Ten years is more than enough time to get everything situated. #2. If a large amount of people buy more and more fuel-efficient cars every year, then it will absolutely help the environment in an extremely positive way. Here's are some of the fuel-efficient cars of 2010: http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/fuel-efficient-cars-47102201
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, this is a really good informative article that really deals with one of the main factors of global warming.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I want to point out is in 25 years the cars’ ability to extract power has doubled! That seems really bad to me that it took that long considering engineers and car makers haven’t had to deal with as many problems back then they have now. I would think that extraction power would have tripled or quadrupled (then again, I don’t know a single thing about cars and gasoline consumption.
Also, what the heck are idiots still doing buying hummers? They’re expensive, excessively enormous, and get like 9 mpg. They totally kill the environment. Why can’t you just get a more fuel efficient SUV if you need that much room?
I think that the year to set better fuel efficiency rates should be 2014 because not only does that give car makers enough time to plan, make, and sell cars, but it also gives the vehicle industry a little extra push to hurry up making some better cars that don’t abolish our planet. I have to disagree with Jake with 2020 as a goal because in my opinion, waiting 10 years for the world to make a serious environmental move is a little too long. By then, the effects of global warming will start to really kick in (not raise to ocean level 10 feet kick in but raise the temperature 10 degrees).
In response to questions 2 and 3, providing a series of cars that completely revolutionize the way cars release carbon will be a monumental effect on air quality especially if a lot of people start doing it.
Remember two years ago when gas was around $4.30? Well that could easily happen again if not grow higher. I think when a decent increase in gas price occurs that will push the population towards buying a car that will save them money in the long run. People will be compelled to buy a car that could potentially save them a lot of money over the course of say 5-7 years as supposed to keeping their old portable pollution machine. This could in turn potentially spark an economic boost.
I think that it is essential that car manufacturers make a huge stride to help the entire ecological system of the planet.
I think this article is great! We need a change in the car industry with gas and that great expense everyone has to pay. I agree with jake. #1 I think it should be around 2020. That will give everybody ample amount of time to think of every idea possible and give time to get everything in place.#2 I think it will help out the enviroment a little bit. I feel if people start driving cars more since they get better mpg we'll get more pollution. #3 I think some people will buy and some people won't. I feel people will not want to pay that kind of money up front, even though you can save much over time. All in all i think this will deffinitley help out a little bit and it's just another step to solving the pollution problem. Here is a site about fuel efficient cars:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/bestworst.shtml
I love the fact that this topic gets so much attention. Its very important that we try and cut down on oil usage. In response to the six months being too little time tfor authomakers to design cars, i disagree. I think that six years plenty of time for automakers to complete the task espescially because they should be doing it anyway! http://c1.gas2.org/files/2008/03/vw1liter1.jpg this is a link to a picture of the worlds most fuel efficent car. This car only uses 1 liter of fuel for every 100 km, which is 285 MPG! It6 is specially designed to be super aerodynamic (more aerodynamic than uyour everyday car) and as a drag of .16 as opposed to the typical .30. Instead of rear view mirrors it has internal screens to help guide the driver. This car would drasticly improve our fuel rating. Although this car will never come to the markt, this is what all car companys should strive to make, atleast until we find another, more efficent, way to of fueling a car.
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