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Nature 00695.txt

Obama proposes greenhouse-gas standards for vehicles: Nature Newsthe Obama administration released new automobile standards on Tuesday, proposing regulations that would curb greenhouse-gas emissions and ratchet up fuel-efficiency standards beginning in 2012. Released jointly by the US Environmental protection agency (EPA) and Department of transportation, the regulations would effectively increase fuel efficiency standards by nearly 40 percent, to more than 35.5 miles per gallon (about 15 kilometres per litre) in 2016. Greenhouse-gas emissions for an automobile company's entire fleet would be limited to an average of 250 grams of carbon dioxide per mile, which is nearly 30 percent less than the current average. EPA administrator Lisa Jackson said the move marks a significant advance in our work to protect health in the environment and move our nation into the sustainable, energy-efficient economy of the future. She said the new rules would not only reduce emissions and save oil but also result in consumer savings of roughly $3, 000 over the lifetime of a vehicle produced in 2016. The proposal would create a single national standard that is consistent with earlier regulations that were proposed by the state of California but blocked by the administration of former president George w bush. Obama reversed that decision this June. Administration officials announced the broad outlines of the deal with automakers in May, at a time when the industry was seeking government aid to stay afloat. Both General motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC ended up filing for bankruptcy leaving Ford motor Co. as the only major US automaker standing. Speaking at a General motors Co. plant in Lordstown, Ohio, on Tuesday, President Barack Obama asserted that the regulations will give companies long-overdue clarity, stability and predictability as they struggle to pull out of a financial tailspin. Michael Stanton, president of the Association of International Automobile manufacturers, called the new regulations a welcome step toward a single, national programme. The regulations are rooted in a 2007 Supreme court finding that the EPA has the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. The Bush administration analyzed the issue in its waning days but eventually elected to defer a final decision. EPA administrator Lisa Jackson took the first step in April with an endangerment finding that would formally declare carbon dioxide a danger to public health and the environment. EPA has yet to finalize that ruling, which could be expanded to include broader greenhouse gas regulations for industrial sources such as power plants and heavy industry. In its new proposal, the administration issued two separate but complementary standards. The fuel efficiency standards, issued under the Department of transportation, are slightly less stringent and retain loopholes in the current regulatory system. In particular, manufacturers are allowed to simply pay fines if they fail to meet the standards and to take extra credit for reduced gasoline consumption by'flex-fuel'vehicles, even though those vehicles seldom run on high-ethanol blends. But by 2016, automakers will have to comply with the more stringent of the two, which effectively means that the greenhouse gas standards take over, says Jim Kliesch, a senior engineer in the Union of Concerned Scientists'clean vehicles programme in WASHINGTON DC. He credits the administration with eliminating both loopholes under the EPA regulations. In addition to increasing overall fuel efficiency, automakers could improve their air-conditioning systems and opt for new chemical refrigerants that contribute less to global warming. Other improvements will focus on a host of technologies for improving engines and transmissions many of which are available on various vehicles today. I think we are going to see more of these technologies on the showroom floors as a result of this policy, Kliesch says. We ran some numbers and are estimating that this policy will save 1. 3 million barrels per day of oil in 2020. This would represent a decrease of nearly 7 percent compared to current US consumption of roughly 19.5 million barrels per day.

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