Oil, oil, everywhere, but not a drop for fuel

Oil, oil, everywhere, but not a drop for fuel.

This is the stark view of Gulf Coast residents who see a 24,500 square mile oil slick menacing their shores. The devastating BP oil disaster has clearly increased the urgency to dramatically reduce America’s oil consumption; and cutting our consumption would save consumers money, reduce foreign oil imports, help our economy, increase national security, and reduce global warming pollution.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has indicated that oil use reduction (or “oil savings”) provisions would be a central element of the clean energy legislation he plans to bring to the Senate floor in mid July. And a number of other senators have introduced legislation that would either reduce oil use from many sources or focus on a specific sector. By selecting the best provisions from each bill it’s possible to craft a program that would reduce oil use by one-third or more by 2030.

There are three primary ways to reduce oil use: make cars much more fuel efficient, launch cleaner alternative fuels such as electricity for cars and natural gas for trucks, and invest in public transportation. CAP evaluated the major oil savings proposals in senators’ bills that address all three of these needs and chose the provisions with the most oil savings in each category.

Proposed oil savings provisions that will make a difference:

Establish an oil savings goal: Sen. Jeff Merkley’s (D-Ore.) National Oil Independence Program is in discussion draft form. It would establish a goal of reducing oil use by eight million barrels-per-day in 2030, which equals current imports from every major nation except Canada.

Improve fuel economy for cars and light trucks: Sen. Merkley’s plan would increase fuel economy requirements by 6 percent annually from 2017 to 2030. This would increase fuel economy standards to 44.8 miles per gallon for model year 2020, and to 60 MPG for model year 2025. These fuel economy standards are realistic. Sen. Merkley noted that “China will be requiring its vehicles to achieve 42.2 MPG by 2015."

President Barack Obama also ordered the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation to develop new fuel economy and greenhouse pollution standards for model years 2017 to 2021.

Begin fuel economy standards for medium and heavy-duty trucks: Fuel economy standards have never existed for these size trucks even though they’re gas guzzlers. Medium trucks get an average of 9.7 miles per gallon, while heavy trucks get 6.5 miles per gallon. Sen. Merkley’s plan would set the first standard for these vehicles of 15.8 MPG and 10.4 MPG, respectively, by 2030. This would save an estimated 400,000 barrels of oil per day. The Obama administration is also developing the first-ever fuel economy standards for these vehicles.

Establish a “fee bate” program to encourage the purchase of fuel-efficient cars: A “fee bate” program encourages drivers to buy more efficient vehicles by providing cash back for buying cars that are more fuel efficient than the average vehicle in that class. This program is paid for by levying a surcharge on vehicles that are below average in fuel economy in a particular class.

Two bills would establish a fee bate system to boost the purchase of high-efficiency cars, the Efficient Vehicle Leadership Act, S. 1620, sponsored by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), and the Practical Energy and Climate Plan, S. 3464.

Charge up the electric car industry: One way to dramatically reduce oil use is by developing, producing, and using cars completely or primarily powered by electric batteries rather than gasoline. These cars also produce less global warming and other pollution compared to conventional gasoline vehicles, and are cheaper to operate too. The Chevrolet Volt, which is the first plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, or PHEV, should be available later this year, and it could get 230 MPG.

President Obama set a goal of 1 million PHEVs by 2015. Incentives for purchasing electric vehicles and creation of the infrastructure to recharge them are essential to meeting this goal. The Electric Vehicle Deployment Act would provide incentives for the purchase of electric vehicles and it would also provide $800 million to five as yet unselected communities to deploy 700,000 electric vehicles by 2016.

Fill up more trucks and buses with natural gas: Electricity is an excellent alternative fuel for passenger vehicles, but unfortunately it won’t work for heavier trucks and buses. The large amounts of energy needed to power these weightier vehicles would require too many batteries that would add too much weight and take up too much space. Instead, natural gas -- in the form of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, or compressed natural gas, or CNG -- is an ideal alternative fuel for these vehicles. Because many of these vehicles are short haul, centrally fueled vehicles, only a limited number of natural gas refueling stations are necessary.

LNG or CNG produces one-quarter of the global warming pollution compared to oil-based fuels. And CAP analysis shows that by 2035 natural gas heavy trucks could reduce oil use by 1.2 million barrels per day, or 45 percent of the projected oil consumption of heavy trucks by 2035. These fuels are cheaper per mile compared to diesel fuel as well (if oil is more than $31 per barrel).

The NAT GAS Act, S. 1408, sponsored by Sens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Harry Reid (D-Nev.), and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), would create incentives for trucking companies and bus fleets to purchase trucks and buses powered by natural gas.

Implement fuel-efficiency measures for off-road vehicles and other transportation: Off-road and construction vehicles, planes, trains, and boats all use oil-based fuels. Airplanes, for instance, consume about 15 percent of all finished petroleum products.

Invest in more efficient transportation infrastructure: Investments in public transit, high-speed rail, and other low-oil infrastructure are essential to reducing oil use after tackling vehicles and fuels.

The American Power Act, or APA, would invest $6 billion annually in “transportation infrastructure to increase efficiency and decrease oil consumption … [including] almost $2 billion for state and local projects that reduce oil consumption and greenhouse gases.”

Boost renewable fuel use: The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 includes a renewable fuel standard that requires the production of 22 billion gallons of advanced biofuels by 2022, which would save over half a million barrels of oil daily.

Paying for reduction programs:

Only the American Power Act’s provisions come with their own revenue-generating mechanism: the funds from auctioning pollution allowances to the largest carbon emitters under a carbon limitation program. CAP estimates that the funds from APA’s limit on carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants alone could generate $80 billion annually for investment in these and other clean energy technologies. Eliminating $45 billion worth of tax loopholes for big oil companies could also provide revenue to fund oil savings programs. These taxpayer handouts are unnecessary in an industry where the five largest companies made nearly a trillion dollars in profits in the past decade.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) noted that, “In all of the climate bills, there are significant revenues generated, so that is a possibility. But if we did an energy-only bill, we’re going to be struggling about how to provide revenues.” This means that setting a shrinking limit on global warming pollution, closing tax loopholes, or creating some other reliable revenue stream is essential for funding the programs to significantly reduce our oil use.

Full article at: http://www.grist.org/article/2010-06-29-senate-oil-savings-greatest-hits/