California leads the nation in setting stringent emission standards and now seeks to specifically reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Seung-Yeon Choi and Cally Berg of The Paly Voice present the pros and cons of this new legislation.

Pro

Seung-Yeon Choi

President Barack Obama announced his support for California and 13 other states setting stricter automobile emission and fuel efficiency standards to directly combat global warming last Monday. In an energy-dependent, yet energy-deficient society, immediate governmental regulation on the automobile fuel industry is essential for mitigating environmental harms.

Under the newly passed waiver of the Clean Air Act, Californian automakers will be required to reduce emissions by one third by 2016, four years before the national goal. As the leader of the green frontier, California’s success with the waiver will encourage other states to set realistic goals to protect the environment. Relying merely on the federal government’s sparse regulations on fuel efficiency has only led to years of stagnation. In order to prevent history from repeating itself, individual states with the capacity should be able to devise their own regulations to ensure continued progress.

Regulating the automobile industry could help eliminate nearly one third of greenhouse gases in California and about 16 percent of U.S. global warming pollution, according to the Clean Cars Campaign organization. According to a New York Times article, fuel-efficient cars can save enough renewable energy generating capacity to power six million American homes and save the federal government $2 billion a year.

Such stringent requirements could also give these CEOs of the American Big Three automakers an incentive to fully innovate and renew the American automobile industry. These automakers once boasted of tremendous horsepower running on affordable fuel. In the 21st century, fuel inefficiency and fluctuating gas prices have sentenced American companies to unpopularity and henceforth, bankruptcy. Although the transition will be difficult, this permanent change could help secure better futures for upcoming generations.

Although many opponents strongly believe that this waiver will hurt the ill economy, it will reduce reliance on buying expensive foreign oil and ultimately help individual families save money. While Palo Alto residents enjoy their bubble of blissful ignorance, they forget that given fuel-efficient cars, low-income Californian families can save about 100 gallons in fuel and $360 in fuel prices, according to the recent press release of Director David Yarnold on Presidential Actions on Energy and Climate.

With the widespread popularity of the Honda Insight and Toyota Prius, there is evidently sufficient demand for fuel-efficient cars in California. J.D. Power has even predicted that hybrid cars will account for seven percent of the car market in 2011. Under the Clean Air Act waiver, more fuel-efficient and affordable models to the public could help people in adopting environmentally sound lifestyles.

Con

Cally Berg

Green is the new black this year. California is proposing lower automobile emissions and higher fuel efficiency standards that are far stricter than what the federal government requires. For the first time, California will seek to specifically lower carbon dioxide emissions rather than total particulate emissions. This is a bad idea because carbon dioxide emissions are not measurable on a per car basis, creating an artificial offering of car choices at higher prices.

CNN Money says, “Carbon dioxide cannot be simply captured from a car’s tailpipe like a lot of other pollutants. The only way carmakers would be able to meet these new standards is by selling vehicles that get better gas mileage in those states. Cars that burn less gas emit less carbon dioxide – effectively raising mileage standards.”

According to CNN, “The California standards would effectively require them [automobile manufacturers] to provide cars that average 42 or 43 miles per gallon [by 2020].” The cars sold by a particular manufacturer in one year in California would have to average 42 to 43 miles per gallon. This will influence the mix of cars available in the state and potentially cause Californians to buy their vehicles of choice out of state.

By forcing automakers to make special cars for different states, California, in particular, could inflate the already rising cost of “green automobiles.” Especially since the United States is in a recession, this is not the time to mandate increased vehicle prices. The California Air Resources Board estimates that the new standards will cost about $1,000 extra per car. If someone is buying a Porsche Cayenne, $1,000 is not a big increase (about one percent), but if they are buying a Chevy Aveo, it accounts for a 10 percent increase in price. These standards affect underprivileged people significantly more than members of the upper class.

Certain cars will also be hard to find because the car companies can only sell a certain number in order to keep their average gas mileage low. The regulations specify an average fuel efficiency across all cars sold by one manufacturer in California. If Ford sells a very high efficiency Escort that will balance a gas-guzzling Excursion, and help maintain the required overall 42 to 43 mile per gallon mandate.

Small and hybrid cars are also hard to sell when gas prices are down. In 2008, the smaller cars were flying off the lots, but now the dealers cannot get rid of them. American manufacturers would make small efficient cars if Americans wanted to buy them. There is no profit incentive to manufacturing small, efficient cars if there is no demand for them.

Mandating fuel efficiency by manufacturers in California will not efficiently change the mix of vehicles on the road. Taxing carbon-based products, like gas and oil, will produce an economic incentive to consumers to seek high efficiency vehicles.

The way to limit carbon dioxide emissions is to create an economic incentive for the consumer to use less carbon based fuel. Forcing automakers to provide a mix of cars not demanded by consumers will not work in a free market economy.