Bush to call for 20 percent cut in gasoline use

Another Bushism for doing nothing. Raise CAFE standards now, not in 10 years (2017 CE). Double your efficiency and you cut your cost by one-half (or double your profit). The Rocky Mountain Institute pointed this out years ago.

 

I'm not sure why anybody considers *today's* hybrid cars as having anything to do with "alternative energy sources." Today's hybrids are ALL powered by nothing else but gasoline. While I understand the sentiment, that's been one of my peeves. Hybrids are NOT alt-fuel vehicles until such a time that they can be run on something other than petroleum! If Bush will be pushing for REAL hybrids, I'm all for it!

20% reduction. Man, we could have been there 10 years ago, and now we're going to hope for it ten years FROM now. I guess I should be happy about any "start" no matter how late it comes.

Seven years ago I cut my personal gasoline consumption by about 85%, and have maintained that (actually improved to about 90%) since then.

 

I was always skeptical about Bush, but at the beginning of his first term, I was more receptive to the idea that he might be at least partly sincere. Bush demolished that hope in short order. He has no credibility whatsoever and anything he says should be seen as an attempt to rescue his plunging political fortune and to dull our perception of his abysmal performance. I agree with other posters that his proposal is too little, too late, but, perhaps, better than nothing. It will take regime change in Washington, which is happening, before anything environmentally meaningful will ever happen.

Bob

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(darelldd @ Jan 23 2007, 01:18 PM) [snapback]379602[/snapback]</div>

Can't it be argued that by running partly off of an electric motor and battery, that electricity is Clean Special Fuel? Or is my logic way off?

 

I just figure we'll hear a lot about ethanol tonight.

 

Twenty per cent in ten years sounds alot like two per cent a year. TWO per cent? What a wonderfully inspiring message for the masses, oh great and fearless leader. <_<

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SteveB @ Jan 23 2007, 01:09 PM) [snapback]379698[/snapback]</div>

What B. O. said. The Prius is ONLY fueled with gasoline. It is NOT fueled with Clean Special Fuel (CSF), and is therefor NOT an alt fuel vehicles by any means. You could bend it a bit and consider the Prius an Alt vehicle, but that's about as far as I'm willing to go. It is still a gasoline car!

 

As DanMan32 pointed out on a thread a long while ago...

Think of the Prius' battery system as a rebate machine. When you would otherwise be wasting energy (braking and idling) the battery can store some of that energy for later use. It's basically a way of using the gasoline fuel more efficiently, but as the others pointed out, at the end of the day all of the motive power is derived from gasoline... unless as Beryl pointed out you live somewhere where your destination is always downhill.

 

According to some the energy balance of switch grass and the like is pretty bad. Pimetal, made some comments about cellulosic ethanol being pretty terrible energy balance wise. On the other hand, he's been criticised by many for choosing to use outdated production techniques and farming practices to come up with this numbers. AFAIK, he hasn't commented on ethanol from waste materials or ag residue. He does have a point that conservation is the easiest route to a solution. 35 billion gallons of ethanol would stretch corn production to it's limits, I would think. Cellulosic ethanol (or better yet, Butanol) will have to play a major role in any biofuel future or food prices will go through the roof. The Chinese have already seen this happen with their corn. They're apparently starting to focus more on cellulosic methods.

 

No Car Left Behind.

Cars will be annually tested. In order to maintain their Adequate Yearly Progress they must achieve a 2% mpg fuel improvement. If they fail to reach their performance index four years in a row, they are put into "program improvement"; their tire inflation is checked, they get a tune up and oil change. If they still fail to reach their goal, they may opt to change owners.

No Mullah left behind

 

Why the big ethanol push? "In June, the heads of GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler AG said by 2010 they would double their production of "flexible fuel" vehicles capable of running on ethanol blends of 15 percent gasoline and 85 percent ethanol." "Industry officials have said they remain hamstrung by a lack of fueling stations that offer ethanol blends. Less than 1 percent of the nation's 170,000 gasoline stations offer E85; most are located in the Midwest." I'm sure my tax dollars will be involved.

And isn't this interesting? "The proposal includes a system of trading or "banking" credits to meet new standards, which could lead to Detroit's automakers buying fuel credits from Japanese automakers such as Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp., which have higher fleetwide fuel economy levels." They can basically buy themselves out of their bad decisions.

And what did the automakers have to say about that 20% reduction in consumption?

"Ziad Ojakli, Ford Motor Co.'s group vice president for government affairs, said the automaker would support "equitable" reforms to the fuel economy system for passenger cars established by the government.

Josephine Cooper, Toyota Motor North America's group vice president for government and industry affairs, said the automaker "supports the direction of these goals."

General Motors Corp., meanwhile, said in a statement that it would try to ensure that "any fuel economy increases are technically achievable and performance, or limit consumer choice.""

How like GM.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer @ Jan, 12:28 PM) [snapback]379566[/snapback]</div>

Who's being left behind? All my children are currently enrolled in public schools. My wife and I constantly are amazed at the complexity and level of attention they get as compared to our experiences both in prestigious private and public schools thirty years ago. Any child who is willing to learn can get a excellent education in the current public education system in the United States.

Rick
#4 2006

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(viking31 @ Jan 24 2007, 07:32 AM) [snapback]379970[/snapback]</div>

True - having four children - two in college already - one going on for a JD/MBA next year - our public school system is truly superb.

I read an interesting article that said that the most important thing a society can do is maximize the education of the top 10% of its citizens - interesting.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Jan 24 2007, 01:31 AM) [snapback]379935[/snapback]</div>

Under the corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) regulations, making a car E85 capable essentially doubles the mileage that you get to count. The goverment pretends that every E85-capable vehicle will run half the time on E85, and only the total gasoline consumption counts toward figuring the MPG for CAFE. The irony is that a) in all likelihood, almost none of those vehicles will ever actually use E85, and b) making the car E85 capable drops the straight gas mileage by an MPG or two. On net, you end up with a less efficient fleet, but your jumbo SUVs that actually get 15 MPG get counted as if they got nearly 30 MPG, in the CAFE calculation. Having gotten that in place, it's sure to be grandfathered into whatever replaces CAFE. Oh, and they might actually believe in E85, for all I know.

In fairness, the rules for other alternative fuel vehicles are even stranger, presumably to spur development. They get their actual equivalent gas mileage multiplied by roughly 7-fold. So, a 2006 compressed natural gas (CNG) Honda rated for 32 MPG overall, I believe Honda got to count that as a 224 MPG vehicle. Don't we wish. But at least the CNG Honda actually runs on CNG. And the rule didn't cause Honda to drop the MPG on its gas vehicles.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Jan 24 2007, 02:31 AM) [snapback]379935[/snapback]</div>

And never forget regional politics either:
Bush administration officials increasingly sense an opportunity to put U.S. diplomatic and trade relations with the region on a new footing. Not only do they see ethanol as a potential vehicle to unblock hemispheric free trade talks, but it could also serve as a counterbalance to the growing regional influence of Hugo Chavez, the leftist president of oil-rich Venezuela.
http://www.forbes.com/2006/10/06/ethanol-b...n_energy06.html