Here are 4 photos of the bags of candy and the fact sheet, The Spooky Truth, that members of the Pew Campaign for Fuel Efficiency are delivering to Members of Congress on Halloween. This isn't going to happen until Wednesday, Halloween, October 31st! Here's a heads up well before these will hit offices. This is part of the larger fight to keep the Energy Bill strong, www.energybill2007.org! Please check out The Spooky Truth Fact Sheet as well. Also, check out the letter that Tom and Ray from Car Talk wrote and signed to Members of Congress in support of aggressive CAFE Standards in the energy bill (also in PDF). If you want full-sized images of the below bags, please check out more photos here.
The Spooky Truth
In June, the Senate passed a strong, bipartisan compromise to raise mileage for cars and light trucks to an average of 35mpg by 2020. This is hte first Congressional increase in fuel efficiency in 30 years, and yet the auto industry is pushing a proposal which would weaken and delay the Senate compromise. Their "tricky" proposal would only require 32 mpg by 2022 and actually cap American innovation on mileage improvements at 35mpg. The spooky truth is that just a few years and a few miles do matter when it comes to making a difference for America. In 2020:
Barrels of Oil Saved Per Day:
- 500,000 Auto Lobby Proposal
- 1.2 Million Senate Fuel Economy Compromise
Consumer Savings at the Pump:
- $11 Billion Auto Lobby Proposal
- $25 Billion Senate Fuel Economy Compromise
Emissions Reductions
- 85mmt CO2 Auto Lobby Proposal
- 206 mmt CO2 Senate Fuel Economy Compromise
* Data from the Uniion of Converened Scientists, "Energy Bill Must Guarantee Real Oil Savings" Sept. 2007.
The Auto Lobby Proposal is a Trick, Not a Treat
Please sign the petition in support of an aggressive energy bill over at http://www.energybill2007.org
Tom and Ray Magliozzi
Box 3500 Harvard Square
Cambridge MA 02238Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming
United States House of Representatives
Washington DC 20515Oct. 25, 2007
To Members of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming
You are about to make a crucial decision that may be a turning point for our country. As you consider how high to raise our nation’s CAFÉ standards, you are undoubtedly coming under a barrage of lobbying from various parties. Including us! The obvious question is, who do you believe?
On the one hand, you have people like Ed Markey, who’s been trying to increase fuel economy for as long as we can remember. Admittedly, he’s from Massachusetts. And yes, we’ve seen his haircut.
On the other hand, you have the automotive industry (i.e. car salesmen), whose ratings for honesty are below even those of Congress in public opinion surveys. Let’s remember why:
In 1972, Ford President Lee Iacocca, told you that if the “EPA does not suspend the catalytic converter rule, it will cause Ford to shut down.” Hm. That wasn’t exactly right on the money, was it?
A couple of years later, car makers were back in front of you guys, squealing over proposed new fuel economy standards. Chrysler Vice President of Engineering, Alan Loofborrow, predicted that imposing fuel economy standards might “outlaw a number of engine lines and car models including most full-size sedans and station wagons. It would restrict the industry to producing subcompact size cars—or even smaller ones—within five years.” That thing got a Hemi, Alan?
As the industry triple-teamed Congress to keep America from improving fuel economy, a Ford Executive let fly this whooper: If CAFÉ became law, the move could result “in a Ford product line consisting either of all sub-Pinto sized vehicles…” Ask the man who drives an Expedition if that ever came to pass.
The onslaught of “we can’t…it’ll ruin us… you’re denying Americans a choice of vehicles” begins every time we the people—through our elected representatives—try to bring the auto industry, kicking and screaming into the modern era. And every time, their predictions of motorized-skateboard futures have failed to materialize. Let us repeat that, because the historical record bears it out to a tee. Every single time they’ve resisted safety, environmental, or fuel economy regulations, auto industry predictions have turned out, in retrospect, to be fear-mongering bull-feathers.
Isn’t it time we (you) stop falling for this 50 year-long line of baloney?
The truth is, significantly higher average fuel economy can be achieved. In fact it’s already being achieved. And if we don’t push our own auto industry to set world class standards, they’ll be beaten again by the Japanese, the Koreans, and maybe even the Chinese, who will do it with or without U.S. Congressional action.There are technologies aplenty that already exist that could be used to meet much higher CAFE standards.
- Hybrid-electric vehicles. Hybrids offer, in many cases, a 50% increase in mileage over gasoline versions of the same vehicles. GM just introduced a hybrid Chevy Tahoe, that reportedly gets better city mileage than a Toyota Camry.
- Clean diesel engines. With new, clean diesel fuel now mandated in America, expect a surge of clean diesel engines in the next three to five years that get 25% better fuel economy than their gasoline counterparts.
- Diesel-electric hybrids. Combine the advantages of hybrids with more efficient diesel engines.
- Turbo chargers and super chargers. These force additional air into cylinders to wring more power out of available fuel.
- Cylinder deactivation. Cylinders that are not needed at any given moment, are deactivated, and instantaneously reactivated as soon as the driver demands additional power. Widely available now.
- Plug-in, series hybrids. Now on the drawing boards, plug-in hybrids allow drivers to charge up overnight, when the electric grid is underused, and they’ll handle most commutes without ever firing up their internal combustion engines.
- Automatic stop-start technology. At least one energy analyst we spoke to believes that this simple technology, in and of itself, could result in a 10% decrease in fuel use. It’s already used in hybrid vehicles, foreign and domestic, and is on its way in more vehicles in the next couple of years.
- Higher voltage electrical systems. These save fuel by allowing energy draining systems, such as power steering, and air conditioning, to be run electrically, instead of by draining power from the engine and using fuel.
- Regenerative braking. Captures energy otherwise lost when the car slows down to give further boost to onboard battery systems.
- Safe, lightweight materials. Lightweight steel, aluminum and carbon fiber panels reduce weight, allowing a smaller, more efficient engine to propel a car just as fast on less fuel.
- Better transmissions. Six speed automatic transmissions, widely available now from Ford and others, increase fuel economy by 5% and offer smoother acceleration. Mercedes has seven speeds. Lexus has eight. Nissan has CVTs—continuously variable transmissions. All of these improve mileage AND performance.
- Common rail fuel injection. Now standard on modern diesels, this same high pressure fuel delivery technology is beginning to be used to increase fuel economy in gasoline engines, too.
- All wheel drive systems that use electric motors at the non-driven wheels, like on the Lexus RX350 hybrid, eliminate heavy, gas-wasting differentials and drive train components on cars designed to go in the snow.
- More appropriately sized and weighted cars. When we’re facing a future of global oil wars and economy-killing gasoline prices, perhaps having single commuters drive 5,000 pound SUVs is something we’ll just have to learn to live without. And modern computer electronics, such as stability control, can now ameliorate any driving dynamic issues that result from lack of mass.
- More appropriately powered cars. In 1964, the most powerful, over-the-top Mustang muscle car you could buy came with an optional, four-barrel, 271 horsepower engine. Today, that’s what comes standard on the highest rated minivans. 275 horsepower. To take your kid to nursery school? What does this say about our national priorities? Do we really want to send our kids to fight and die in the desert so that can go 0-60 in eight seconds instead of ten seconds?
The truth is, we could achieve a CAFE standard of 35 miles per gallon in five years if we made it a priority. Every one of the above technologies is either available now or is well along in the pipeline. There’s nothing “pie in the sky” here that hasn’t been thought of or invented yet.
Look what American industry did in World War II. Look what we did with the space program. It’s time to make energy independence just as high a priority. And it starts with you guys (and gals), our representatives. Don’t buy the “can’t do” bull this time.
Not only can it be done, but by increasing CAFÉ standards dramatically, you’ll be helping the American automotive industry compete—by forcing them to synchronize their priorities with those of the American people, and the populations of other countries where they will be increasingly marketing their cars.
It’s the job of private enterprise to design and sell products. But it’s the job of Congress to set our national priorities. Trust us, the car companies won’t go out of business because America insists that they build the world’s best, most efficient cars. We urge you to set the bar high for American ingenuity. We have no doubt out car industry will make the grade—to the benefit of all Americans.
Sincerely,
Tom and Ray Magliozzi
Here's the Press Release of from Click and Clack, the Car Talk guys, Tom and Ray Magliozzi
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Eben Burnham-Snyder, Select Committee, 202-225-4081
NPR’s “Car Talk” Hosts: No More “Fear-Mongering Bull-feathers” from Automakers
Click and Clack Say We've Let Fuel Economy Get Out of Whack
WASHINGTON (October 30, 2007) – The hosts of National Public Radio’s famed show “Car Talk” have sent a letter to Chairman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and the members of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming backing a 35 mile per gallon fuel economy standard for America’s vehicles that is currently being considered in Congress. In the letter, Tom and Ray Magliozzi, aka Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers, use their renowned wit and vehicle knowledge to knock down the auto industry’s continued resistance to adopt stronger fuel economy standards.
“As any listener knows, Tom and Ray are where common sense begins when it comes to cars, and when they say reaching 35 miles per gallon is feasible and the smart play for the American auto industry, people should listen” said Chairman Markey. “Automakers should stop acting like they’re playing the Tappet Brothers’ game, ‘Stump the Chumps,’ and start supporting higher fuel economy standards in Congress’ energy bill.”
In the letter, Click and Clack argue that technology currently exists to reach a 35 mpg standard in 5 years, nearly a decade before the 2020 timeframe that is currently in the compromise Senate language being considered in Congress. From hybrid technology to rail fuel injection to cylinder deactivation, the brothers’ encyclopedic knowledge of solutions to America’s low fuel economy is on display in the missive, as is their rapier wit.
Here are selected excerpts from the letter, which is available on the Select Committee website :
--The onslaught of ‘we can’t. . .it’ll ruin us. . .you’re denying Americans a choice in vehicles’ begins every time we the people—through our elected representatives—try to bring the auto industry, kicking and screaming into the modern era.
--Every single time [the auto industry has] resisted safety, environmental, or fuel economy regulations, auto industry predictions have turned out, in retrospect, to be fear-mongering bull-feathers.
--The truth is, significantly higher average fuel economy can be achieved. In fact it’s already being achieved. And if we don’t push our own auto industry to set world class standards, they’ll be beaten again by the Japanese, the Koreans, and, maybe even the Chinese. . .
--Not only can it be done, but by increasing CAFE standards dramatically, you’ll be helping the American automotive industry compete—by forcing to synchronize their priorities with those of the American people. . .
Congress is currently considering two energy bills passed by the House and Senate that would reduce oil dependence and cut global warming pollution. The Senate-passed bill, which contains the 35 mpg fuel economy standard and other oil saving provisions, would save more than twice as much oil as we currently import from the Middle East by 2030. The House bill contains groundbreaking provisions to increase our use of renewable energy and make our appliances and buildings more efficient. It is estimated that, by 2030, energy legislation with the best provisions from both bills would reduce the total amount of U.S. heat-trapping emissions by roughly 40 percent of what’s needed to save the planet from dangerous global warming.
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