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Fuel Economy
The best way to reduce our dependence on oil and save consumers money at the pump is to make cars go farther on a gallon of gas. Today, fuel economy is at a 24-year low of 20.8 miles per gallon (mpg). The National Academy of Sciences has stated that we already have the technology to make cars get 40 mpg. Increasing the fuel economy of our cars to 40 mpg would save at least four times as much oil each day by 2020 as the Arctic Refuge would produce each day at its peak.
Several studies have demonstrated the economic and environmental benefits of increasing the fuel economy of cars and light trucks. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), if the Bush administration increased new-passenger-vehicle fuel economy to 40 mpg by 2015, consumers would cut their 2015 gasoline bills by 36 billion gallons per year, saving $50 billion at the gas pump. By 2015, we also would reduce our oil dependence by 2.3 million barrels per day and cut global warming pollution by 106 million metric tons per year.
Renewable Energy
Currently, only about 2.3 percent of the country's electricity comes from renewable resources. The technical potential of wind, biomass, and geothermal resources in the United States, however, is four times greater than our current total electricity consumption.
Numerous studies have documented the environmental and economic benefits of renewable energy. UCS looked at the benefits of passing a renewable energy standard requiring that 20 percent of America s electricity come from renewable sources by 2020. UCS found that under a 20 percent by 2020 standard, total consumer savings from lower energy prices would be $49 billion by 2020. The standard also would reduce power plant carbon dioxide emissions by 434 million metric tons per year by 2020 a reduction of 15 percent below business-as-usual levels. Similarly, a recent analysis by U.S. PIRG Education Fund found that a 20 percent by 2020 renewable energy standard would increase America s gross domestic product by $11.1 billion and save consumers $8.9 billion on natural gas costs by 2020.
Re-Energize America: Re-energize America is a diverse and growing group of concerned individuals and organizations that together reflect an emerging national consensus that we must reduce America s oil dependence and be responsible stewards of our nation s natural heritage.
Union of Concerned Scientists, Renewing America's Economy: A 20% National Renewable Electricity Standard Will Create Jobs and Save Consumers Money, September 2004.
Energy Efficiency
Energy efficiency is the quickest, cheapest, cleanest way to reduce energy consumption and save consumers money. Conservative estimates suggest that we still have the potential to reduce our electricity use in the U.S. by 28 percent by 2020.
In 2001, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) looked at nine policies to increase the efficiency of our buildings, homes, appliances, and vehicles and estimated what effect these policies would have on the economy, energy use, and pollution. ACEEE found that under business as usual, emissions of carbon dioxide, the primary global warming gas, would be 54 percent higher by 2020 than 1990 levels. If the U.S. implemented these nine energy and fuel efficiency measures, carbon dioxide emissions would be only 15 percent above 1990 levels. Similarly, relative to business as usual, annual oil use would fall by about 19 percent and oil imports by about 40 percent by 2020.
ExxonMobil: An Obstacle to a Cleaner Energy Future
ExxonMobil represents America's failed energy strategy, one that is taking us backward when we desperately need to move forward. By lobbying against global warming solutions and for keeping oil as a central component of America's energy strategy, ExxonMobil is an obstacle on the path toward a new energy future. |
