Science News Article Reuters.com: “LONDON (Reuters) – The United States must put more energy efficient cars on the highway and raise taxes on gasoline if it wants to kick its addiction to oil from the volatile Middle East, analysts said on Thursday.
President George W. Bush mentioned neither energy efficiency nor tax in his State of the Union address on Tuesday, when he said ‘America is addicted to oil’ from the Middle East and needs to slash imports from there by more than 75 percent by 2025.
A cut in imports of that magnitude would require a major change of tack from the world’s largest energy consumer, now on course to increase rather than decrease dependency on the Middle East, home to 60 percent of the world’s oil reserves.
‘It’s a question of reducing one’s economic vulnerability to a particular source of energy,’ said William Ramsay, Deputy Executive Director at the International Energy Agency, adviser on energy to 26 industrialized nations.
‘And he (Bush) has focused rightly on transportation where the vulnerability is the greatest. So far the principle (political) will has been to resist these higher standards of efficiency, but it’s time to get on with them.’
The technology exists and is being used in Europe and Japan, but U.S. manufacturers have lobbied hard to stop the government forcing them to improve their vehicles’ miles per gallon.
That is not just leading to higher gasoline consumption, but harming the competitiveness of U.S. carmakers that are struggling as consumers increasingly demand more efficient cars.”
Um… Yeah! Lemme help you with that. Encourage scooter use! Let me make THIS prediction… We are not going to be able to reduce our oil imports by 75% before the year 2026. They government is not going to push it. They only way we can reduce dependence is for the earth’s oil to be totally depleted… and if we don’t figure out something by THEN? We’ll be in a world of hurt.
***UPDATE***
Go HERE for the international reaction.
2. February 2006 at 6:33 pm
The only way the U.S. citizen is going to reduce fuel consumption is to not be able to afford to buy enough to power the family school bus(suv). Or as Steve pointed out, to not be able to buy it at all.
2. February 2006 at 6:35 pm
Steve, can you see this happening in Texas anytime soon? Home of ther oversize vehicle. I regularly travel the country and generally get a smaller rental car, frankly it can be pretty scary. We will not be able to get people into small, effiecient cars until they can feel safer in such vehicles.
2. February 2006 at 6:40 pm
Too bad scooters rely on gas…
2. February 2006 at 6:41 pm
Well, you’d be suprised. Sure lots of people buy big dually Ford 350 Diesels because they need them for work… but the hobbiest is second guessing their decision. I’ve seen MORE used big vehicles for sale in Austin then I’ve ever seen before. The small vehicle appeal is starting to set in… at least until GM makes a hybrid Hummer.
2. February 2006 at 6:43 pm
oh and…
“D’oh! Scooters DO rely on gas!” Just a lot less.
2. February 2006 at 6:47 pm
M. King Hubbert made this prediction in 1949:
http://www.hubbertpeak.com/hubbert/
reducing use only delays the inevitable.
3. February 2006 at 2:54 am
WTF…Bush’s posturing again, those politically correct always do the right thing in your face! I refute the idea our dependency of foreign oil is inherently “bad”. I say consume all the foreign oil we can consume at today’s prices…Reconstitute existing dry wells with the foreign crude for storage. When all our well’s are filled, sell the stuff back @50 or a 100 times what we paid for it to fund the construction of mass transportation!
3. February 2006 at 7:44 am
Correct me if I’m wrong, but Bush didn’t say anything about smaller cars nor more efficient cars.
3. February 2006 at 2:15 pm
Our oil gets sold then we buy oil from the middle east. Apparently there’s profit in opetating this way or the oil companies wouldn’t do it. So the “dependancy” is self created. Interesting how the oil companies have been making record profits isn’t it. Ethanol/Bio Diesel is the way to go, support agriculture, not the oil companies and boygeorgeW.
3. February 2006 at 4:40 pm
What is omitted from that speech are some important facts. About 20% of our foriegn oil comes from the Middle East. That’s all he’s saying we should cut 75% of. 75% of 20% of our foriegn oil.