Thursday, November 01, 2007

Raise Fuel Economy Standards NOW: Click & Clack Weigh In


The House and the Senate are currently considering their competing proposals to raise fuel economy in the U.S. to around 35 mpg by 2020 (or, something like that, depending on which version you're reading).

Click and Clack, the Tappett Brothers, aka Tom and Ray Magliozzi, have just sent a letter to the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, claiming that Detroit can actually achieve a fleet-wide average of 35 mpg within just FIVE years! This has made the Select Committee quite happy, or so it seems from this press release:

http://globalwarming.house.gov/mediacenter/pressreleases?id=0111

Tom & Ray are quite witty in their letter, but they pull no punches. They mention enough relevant, existing technology to leave no doubt in the reader's mind that, indeed, Detroit not only can achieve a 35-mpg standard within 5 years, but it is in its own best interest to do so, and furthermore, Detroit has a long history of being on the wrong side of pretty much every battle involving Congress and the safety/efficiency of its vehicles.

Go ahead and read the original letter, at this link (pdf):
http://globalwarming.house.gov/tools/assets/files/0160.pdf

I completely support Tom & Ray, and would love to add my signature to their own. Congress should require 35mpg by 2012, and 1mpg increases annually between then and, say, 2035. Not only would this be well within the range of engineering possibility for that time frame, it would revolutionize the domestic auto industry, and perhaps even help it turn around and recover from the tens of thousands of worker lay-offs that it has been "forced" to undertake recently.

Read the letter, and let me know what you think!

cheers,
~Garlynn

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It all seems so "behind the times", the state of our country, the state of our Earth. How can we change the course of self destruction that we seem to be on - thanks to big multi-national corporate rapist greed.
However, lets embrace and support all the forward thinking action that comes our way. We can always hope that someday we'll be able to castrate
the above fore mentioned rapists. Then maybe we'll be able to speak of big businesses doing the "right thing" for the planet not just for the deep pockets of a few. Already, there seems to be some who are at least espousing the rhetoric of a global conscious - hopefully we can keep them honest.
Anyway, I digress - YES, I SUPPORT TOM AND RAY MAGLIOZZI'S LETTER TO THE HOUSE SELECT COMMITTEE! Get Detroit back on board by making them produce "GREEN MACHINES" A.S.A.P.

Anonymous said...

But hybrid technology paves the way for plug-in hybrid technology which paves the way for all-electric increase miles per gallon, fuel

saver, increase gas mileage
vehicles.Still, hybrids run on gasoline, which is not an alternative to gasoline no matter