railguy wrote:
We could have a wide selection of fuel-efficient, relatively low-emission diesel vehicles in the US if both the Feds and California would simply amend the clean air laws to the European standard for diesel engines smaller than 3.0 liters. I seriously doubt that this would cause a net increase in emissions because many vehicle owners would likely "trade down" from much less efficient gasoline or diesel vehicles. Also, I've always thought emissions regulations that concentrated solely on the tailpipe without considering what happens to fuel economy to be pretty silly. Why? Because they don't account for all of the additional emissions that occur upstream in everything from the crude production, to refining, to fuel distribution systems to get more fuel to the vehicle fuel tank made necessary by emission regulation compromised fuel economy. Dumb. At least Europe seems to have figured that out. 4WD's there with fuel economy figures over 30 mpg (US) highway for mid-sized SUV's and pickups. Cars? I just looked at the specs on the Nissan Micra diesel--fuel economy (converted to US) of 43 mpg city and 55 mpg highway--in a vehicle that comparatively would cost about 2/3's of what a Toyota Prius would cost to buy, and with much simpler technology.
It's pretty sad when third-world countries can get vehicles with fuel economy much better than what is available in the US (there are even some much more fuel-efficient 4WD's than what we can get being sold just south of us in Mexico). Given the US's rapidly diminishing oil reserves and growing dependence on ever-more insecure and depleting worldwide oil reserves, we had better be doing something about fuel economy or WE will be a third world country.
I agree with you 100%. However, according to many oil experts, we have some of the largest oil fields known in the world. There is the oil field that ranges from Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, and into Canada that is suppose to be bigger than the Alaska reserve. According to reports, our country would be set for the next 50 plus years just on that oil field alone, especially with new oil drilling technology. Here in Western Kansas, there has been numerous reports (within the past year) that we have massive oil fields setting here. Of course, we also set on top of the Ogallala aquifer, which is the main water source for much of Western Kansas, Nebraska, Eastern Colorado and parts of Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. There are several Canadian oil companies (with Canadian tags) driving around and taking data. They are all driving brand new Dodge Cummins pickup trucks and servicing them at the local Dealership. The Service Guy told me that they are here gathering data on oil fields that are suppose to be pretty massive.
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