Edwards and Obama Announce Mileage Plans

by Hank Green
There’s no doubt, the way the environment is treated in the 2008 American presidential campaign will be of extreme importance fot the country and the world for a very long time. I’ve been a bit worried about the lack of environmental plans coming from the highest profile candidates, but both Edwards and Obama [...]

by Hank Green
There’s no doubt, the way the environment is treated in the 2008 American presidential campaign will be of extreme importance fot the country and the world for a very long time. I’ve been a bit worried about the lack of environmental plans coming from the highest profile candidates, but both Edwards and Obama have now released plans for future fuel economy standards, and it’s pretty good news.

Edwards announced his plan first. The plan is pretty ambitious, calling for an average fleet fuel economy of 40 mpg by 2016. The current standard rests at around 27 mpg, which, by all accounts, is frightfully lame. Edwards, however, does not make any promises for anything before 2016.

Obama’s plan, on the other hand, calls for a 4% increase in fleet average fuel efficiencies every year for the next eight years. While this eventually leads to a lower fuel efficiency in 2016 of around 36 mpg, it begins the increase in efficiency immediately.

In my opinion, 40 mpg by 2016 should be simple for car companies to accomplish, especially with new advances in batteries and plug-in hybrids on the horizon. Both Edwards and Obama have to be careful to not scare off their corporate contributors, but, in either case, the CAFE increases would be a welcome change after more than a decade of 27 mpg.