Senators Propose Legislation to Reduce Gas Consumption by 45%
April 23rd, 2007 | by Brian Carr |New Mexican Democrat Senators Jeff Bingaman and Pete Domenici, the chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the State Energy and National Resources Committee, have introduced legislation that calls for a 45% reduction of gasoline consumption by 2030.
While the Energy Efficiency Promotion Act’s greater focus centered on reducing America’s use of fossil fuels in general, gasoline consumption was a major component of the legislation.
According to Bingman’s website some of the items that the proposed legislation calls for are:
- A 20% reduction in gasoline consumption by 2017; 35% reduction by 2025 and a 45% reduction by 2035.
- Authorizes the Department of Energy to spend $60 million in funds to research the use of lighter components (such as carbon composites) in the construction of new vehicles.
- Authorizes $2.3 billion in funds over the next ten years for the development, testing and manufacturing of battery technologies.
With the environment becoming one of the most hotly debated issues - and seemingly most Americans in favor of some form of energy conservation and independence from foreign oil - it certainly seems like now is the time to begin to push sweeping legislation such as the Energy Efficiency Promotion Act.
While this legislation certainly seems to be a big step forward and will seemingly push car manufacturers (especially American car makers) to bring more fuel efficient vehicles to the market, there still seems to be plenty questions left to be answered:
- What are the penalties if these new fuel efficiency standards are not met and who will enforce them?
- If gasoline consumption is supposed to be reduced by 45% in the next 28 years, where will the savings come from? More fuel efficient vehicles? Alternative fuels, and if so, what type?
- What sort of oversight will there be on the significant amount of funds that are earmarked for battery technology?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly not saying that this is bad legislation; I’m all for trying to create a less pollution filled environment. To be perfectly honest, I think that the Energy Efficiency Promotion Act is a very big step in the right direction and I hope that, at the very least, it gets us talking about how we can do our part to reduce the amount of energy we use each day.
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