US imposes new green standards on the roads
Source: Agencies |
August 10, 2011, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
HEAVY vehicles will, for the first time, have to trim fuel consumption and emissions under new US efficiency standards announced yesterday by President Barack Obama.
The White House said the standards will save businesses billions of dollars in fuel costs, help reduce oil consumption and cut air pollution. The standards apply to vehicle models dating from 2014 to 2018.
The new targets affect three categories of vehicles. Articulated lorries will have to slash fuel consumption and production of greenhouse gases by up to 23 percent. Petrol-powered heavy-duty pickups and vans will have to cut consumption by 10 percent, or 15 percent if they run on diesel fuel.
The standards also demand a 9 percent reduction in fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions for work trucks, which include everything from fire engines and concrete mixers to waste-disposal lorries and buses.
The president had planned to unveil the standards at a lorry business in Virginia, a state crucial to his re-election hopes, but the White House canceled the trip yesterday without explanation. Instead, the president met industry officials at the White House to discuss the initiative.
The White House projected savings of 530 million barrels of oil and US$50 billion in fuel costs over the expected lives of the vehicles covered by the new standards, along with improved air quality and public health.
Officials stressed the costs of making the trucks more fuel-efficient - ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars per vehicle - will be recouped through reduced fuel costs.
It is the second round of fuel efficiency standards in the past few weeks. Last month, Obama announced a deal with vehicle makers to double overall fuel economy to 23 kilometers per liter by 2025, starting in model year 2017. Cars and light trucks now on the road average 11kpl.
The White House said the standards will save businesses billions of dollars in fuel costs, help reduce oil consumption and cut air pollution. The standards apply to vehicle models dating from 2014 to 2018.
The new targets affect three categories of vehicles. Articulated lorries will have to slash fuel consumption and production of greenhouse gases by up to 23 percent. Petrol-powered heavy-duty pickups and vans will have to cut consumption by 10 percent, or 15 percent if they run on diesel fuel.
The standards also demand a 9 percent reduction in fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions for work trucks, which include everything from fire engines and concrete mixers to waste-disposal lorries and buses.
The president had planned to unveil the standards at a lorry business in Virginia, a state crucial to his re-election hopes, but the White House canceled the trip yesterday without explanation. Instead, the president met industry officials at the White House to discuss the initiative.
The White House projected savings of 530 million barrels of oil and US$50 billion in fuel costs over the expected lives of the vehicles covered by the new standards, along with improved air quality and public health.
Officials stressed the costs of making the trucks more fuel-efficient - ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars per vehicle - will be recouped through reduced fuel costs.
It is the second round of fuel efficiency standards in the past few weeks. Last month, Obama announced a deal with vehicle makers to double overall fuel economy to 23 kilometers per liter by 2025, starting in model year 2017. Cars and light trucks now on the road average 11kpl.
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