![]() ![]() That fuel-to-carbon link made it possible for NHTSA and EPA to develop standards jointly, which they’ve done since 2010 (for standards affecting cars and light-duty trucks MY 2012 and beyond). In addition, the increasing presence of alternative-fuel vehicles, like electric vehicles, in the national vehicle fleet further complicates the link between between carbon emissions and fuel economy. The actual greenhouse gas emission standards regulate CO 2, methane (CH 4), nitrous oxide (N 2O), and air-conditioning refrigerants (typically R-134a). However, that observation greatly simplifies things. Limiting vehicle GHG emissions and limiting fuel consumption are closely linked, because CO 2 is directly proportional to fuel consumption: burn one gallon of gasoline and you will release about 9 kg (20 lbs) of CO 2 burn a gallon of diesel and it’ll be about 10 kg (22 lbs) CO 2. That regulation traces back to the 2007 US Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v Environmental Protection Agency, in which the court held that the Clean Air Act gives the EPA authority to regulate tailpipe emissions of GHGs, and in fact requires it to do so if they endanger public health and welfare, because those gases fit the CAA’s definition of air pollutants. Carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles, and other GHGs, are regulated under the Clean Air Act by the EPA. ![]() However, the CAFE regulations do not directly target CO 2, not to mention other GHGs or, for that matter, “conventional” pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) or particulate matter, which also have climate effects. It’s not coincidence that when Congress moved to update the fuel economy regulations in 2007, for the first time in two decades, it did so in a piece of legislation named the Energy Independence and Security Act.īy making the US passenger vehicle fleet more fuel efficient, the CAFE program inherently reduces emissions of carbon dioxide, the most important greenhouse gas (GHG). That set of background aims has remained part of the basic rationale of CAFE throughout its history. The goals of the first CAFE standards were to reduce oil imports, limit the country’s economic vulnerability to OPEC, and improve national security. The US corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards were originally set out in the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975, but they fundamentally trace back to the 1973 oil embargo by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). ![]()
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