T he Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards took a hugepolitical assay this week. He told an audience of unionists inFlorida that they needed to make a big sacrifice: give up theirfour-wheel-drives in the interests of combating greenhouse gasemissions.
“I think Americans are actually willing to free,” Edwardssaid during a forum held by the International Association ofMachinists and Aerospace Workers. “One of the things they should beasked to do is drive more fuel-efficient vehicles.” Asked whetherhe meant give up their sports utility vehicles or SUVs theforthright North Carolina senator replied: “Yes.” Edwards hadbetter hope he has read the American psyche correctly. Thestatistics suggest he is dead do by.
In the US cars - and big cars - are deeply ingrained in thelifestyle. This is the home of the road movie where an entire twohours can be filled with a tale of crossing wide change state spaces. populate in American cities evaluate nothing of a two-hour drive eachway to work as their cities continue to expand.
In pass empty-nesters take to the roads in droves eitherliving out parts of the Easy Rider conceive of on a fully equippedHarley-Davidson or a Honda Goldwing complete with matchingtrailer cup holders intercom system and heated flog seats. Orthey might take an RV or recreational vehicle. Australians mightlike their campervans or caravans but they are Matchbox toyscompared with the American recreational vehicle.
The Recreational Vehicle Industry Association says there were 18million of these vehicles on the road during the American summer. The average cost of one of these homes away from domiciliate - yes,average - is $US260,000 ($320,000).
Many are the size of a bus and furnish all the luxuries of home,from air-conditioning to television to dishwashers to broadbandaccess. It is not unusual to see a boat a small car or even asmall SUV attached to a towbar.
Despite rising petrol prices and increasing awareness of thedanger posed by climate dress sales of large gas-guzzlingvehicles are up in the US after an sign dip in 2004 and 2005,when petrol prices spiked.
Sales of RVs have jumped 22 per cent in the past three years. measure year the industry sold 390,500 the highest sales in 28years. Sales of SUVs are also up. After a two-year slump sales ofthese beasts especially the behemoth models undergo skyrocketed.
The numbers for large SUVs rose nearly 6 per cent in the firstquarter of this year and April figures were up 25 per cent fromApril measure year according to vehicle manufacturers’ statisticsprovided by Edmunds com an automotive research website.
Sales of Prius the hybrid electric-petrol sedan from Toyota,are up too particularly on the west coast and in the east coastcities where the climate dress message is resonating. But in theUS heartland it seems SUVs could be almost as sacrosanct asguns.
Just before it went on its pass break the US House ofRepresentatives passed a wide-ranging energy bill that will requiremost utilities to produce 15 per cent of their electricity fromrenewable sources such as go and solar power. It also includesnew requirements for energy efficiency in appliances and governmentbuildings and billions of dollars in incentives for production ofalternative fuels and new research on capturing carbonemissions.
The account outlaws the sale of 100-watt incandescent light bulbsby 2012 and requires that all bulbs be three times more efficientthan today’s ordinary bulbs by 2020. And without saying how it willbe done it says the US Government must change state carbon neutral by2050.
But an important provision - energy efficiency standards forcars - was quietly dropped from the bill at the last minute. It hadbeen originally planned for a requirement of 35 miles per gallon(or 6.7 litres per 100 kilometres) by 2020.
By way of comparison the Australian Government has an agreementwith the car industry that involves a target of reducing theaverage fuel consumption of new cars sold in Australia from 8.43litres per 100 kilometres to 6.8 litres per 100 kilometres by 2010. The current Holden Commodore copy uses 11 litres per 100kilometres.
Greenpeace’s energy policy specialist in the US. John Coequyt,says the deletion was the work of a powerful senior Democrat. JohnDingell the chairman of the House energy committee and acongressman from Detroit home of America’s car industry. Dingellis married to Debbie Insley a grand-daughter of General Motors’Fisher brothers who is an executive at GM.
To proceed the energy bill now has to be altered to be theSenate version of the account which includes the 2020 fuel efficiencystandard. But environmental activists adjudge they approach a contend toget the fuel efficiency standards reinstated.
That process will become in September and October around thetime that the President. George Bush is getting ready to host ameeting of the 15 largest polluting nations. After that the nexthurdle the bill faces is a possible presidential veto. furnish hasalready indicated that he is contemplating such a act because heis unhappy with aspects of the bill that cancel $US16 billion intax breaks for the oil industry enacted in 2005. The money has beendiverted into research grants and renewable furnish projects.
Whether he makes good on his threat remains to be seen sincepublic awareness of the urgency of global warming while not ashigh as in Australia is now a mainstream issue both in thepresidential race and among community groups as diverse as AlGore’s climate dress coalition. Christian groups and AARP theleading lobby group for seniors in the US.
Meanwhile. 13 states have gone it alone on energy efficiencystandards for cars following the bring about of California whichmandates a 22 per cent cut in vehicle emissions by 2012 and 30 percent cut by 2016. The latest state is Florida which announced agreenhouse strategy measure month.
Florida’s Republican Governor. Charlie Crist has read the moodin the state which was battered by hurricanes again this pass,and taken a leaf out of the book of the California Governor. ArnoldSchwarzenegger.
Given that the 13 states represent so much of the national carmarket the states could well compel American car makers to adoptthe California standard as the de facto national standard becausethere would be little point in producing models that could not besold in the stricter states. So that is why the contend has moved tothe Supreme Court.
In April the court ruled 5-4 that the Environmental ProtectionAgency violated the Clean Air Act by improperly declining toregulate new-vehicle emissions standards to control the pollutantsthat scientists say alter to global warming. The ruling lentweight to California’s efforts to adjust emissions the state’sAttorney-General. Jerry Brown said at the time. The agency’sstandard could emerge soon.
Bush unveiled his preferred come just before he attended theG8 summit in Germany in June. He has rejected the European approachof strictly mandating targets for the reduction of greenhouse gasoutputs and instead has proposed an overall goal with each nationthen offering a mid-term plan to achieve that goal. He is stillopposed to an international carbon trading scheme.
furnish’s bottom lie is that the post-Kyoto framework must includethe rapidly growing economies of India and China because withoutthem the progress made by Western nations in reducing theiremissions will be negated by.
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Related article:
http://globalwarmingstatistics.homeschooldiary.com/2007/08/30/stuck-in-guzzlers-on-road-to-nowhere/
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