CAFE Standards

Posted by
March 7, 2007

Not sure if anyone is running CAFE standards – I think this is generally a good idea but not sure if it’s renewable energy…. Here is a good negative card in case anyone runs it as a counterplan.

Raising fuel economy standards would take 10 to 20 years and hardly perceptible

Samuelson, 2006 (An Oil Habit America Cannot Break; [FINAL Edition] Robert J. Samuelson. The Washington Post. Washington, D.C.: Oct 18, 2006. pg. A.21)

Or imagine we raised the government’s fuel economy standards for new vehicles — say, from 27.5 miles per gallon for cars to 40 mpg. Because factories can’t be converted instantly, the shift would be spread over 10 to 20 years. Replacing today’s more than 225 million cars and light trucks would also be gradual and hardly perceptible. We’d also need a tax on fuel of at least $1 to $2 a gallon. Without mandated higher fuel prices, many Americans wouldn’t buy more efficient vehicles. They’d recondition bigger sport- utility vehicles and sedans to keep them running. Or more driving would offset potential fuel savings. With low fuel prices in the 1990s, average annual driving per car rose about 1,500 miles, to almost 12,000.

Competing, Evidence, Instructional

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