Energy Bill Passes

December 19th, 2007 Alex

President Bush finally signed the energy bill into law today increasing vehicle fuel efficiency standards to 35 mpg. The law also enforces the use of biofuels and more energy efficient homes and appliances. By 2020, automakers will need to have a 35 mpg average fuel efficiency for all vehicles sold in the US. The current standard is 27.5 mpg for passenger cars and 22.2 for trucks which was established in 1975. Refineries also have to replace 36 billion gallons of gasoline with biofuel by 2022. The Bill however, left out two provisions, leaving out $20 billion in funding for renewable energy, and a requirement for utilities to buy 15% of their power from renewable resources. It is obvious that President Bush doesn’t care to make cars more fuel efficient and use biofuel since his family got rich in the oil business. He has done a pretty good job preventing this bill from happening throughout his career but I guess the demands have finally made him to give in since it was going to happen sooner or later.

The bill also phases out the incandescent light bulb by 2012. Sales of CFL(compact fluorescent bulbs) only sell 5% of the light bulb market. Incandescent light bulbs waste 90% of its energy due to the wasted heat. As of now, there are not too many alternatives to incandescent light bulbs, but with the new law in place, there should be a lot more alternatives. Some of the cons of CFLs are that they have a toxic substance(mercury) in them, they aren’t as bright, they do not come in as many sizes, and there are not any with dimmers and 3-way settings. Most of these actually do exist now and there will surely be a lot more choices and variety. You can read more about bulbs and some frequently asked questions here.

via CNN 

Entry Filed under: Automobile,Environment