Congress is likely proud of itself, but what's the big deal?
After months of debate and three decades since the last major increase, a national fuel efficiency of 35 average of miles per gallon will be required by 2020.
The new standard will represent an increase of 10 miles per gallon. And that's significant, but it's also superficial when compared to the fuel mileage efficiency of other countries.
Consider:
Vehicles in China average around 30 miles per gallon, and the average is set to rise to about 35 miles per gallon by 2009.
In Europe, vehicles average about 37 miles per gallon and are set to get 50 miles a gallon by 2012. In Japan, cars currently average 45 miles per gallon.
Fleet-wide averages are so much better overseas because, by and large, they drive smaller cars, likely the result of much higher fuel costs. In Norway, for example, a gallon of gas costs more than $8.
So, bravo to Congress. It's made a decision to improve the countries fuel efficiency. But the increase just isn't good enough. As a fuel-reliant country, the U.S. needs to be at the forefront of the issue, not just trying to save further global embarrassment.
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