After further amendments and negotiation between the House and Senate, a revised bill passed both houses on December 18, 2007 and President
Bush, a
Republican,
signed it into law on December 19, 2007 in response to his "
Twenty in Ten" challenge to reduce gasoline consumption by 20% in 10 years.
The bill originally sought to cut subsidies to the petroleum industry in order to promote petroleum independence and different forms of
alternative energy. These tax changes were ultimately dropped after opposition in the Senate, and the final bill focused on automobile
fuel economy, development of
biofuels, and energy efficiency in public buildings and lighting.
Title I-Energy Security Through Improved Vehicle Fuel Economy
Title I contains the first increase in fuel economy standards for passenger cars since 1975, and the establishment of the first efficiency standard for medium-duty and heavy-duty commercial vehicles. In the year 2020, it is estimated to save Americans a total of $22 billion and have a significant reduction in emissions equivalent to removing 28 million cars from the road. Title I is responsible for 60% of the estimated energy savings of the bill.
A. Increased Corporate Average Fuel Economy
- Manufacturers must meet the average fuel economy standard of 27.5 miles per gallon or come within within 92% of the standard for a given model year.
- Development of standards for commercial medium-duty and heavy-duty vehicles.
- Manufacturers can receive credit in one vehicle class if it exceeds the CAFE standards, allowing them make up for another vehicle class that may be below standards. Credits can also be exchanged between manufacturers.
B. Improved Vehicle Technology
C. Federal Vehicle Fleets
- New conservation requirements for federal vehicle fleets.
- Federal agencies cannot use light-duty or medium-duty passenger vehicles that do not meet the new low greenhouse emission standards.
- Using 2005 as a baseline, by 2015 Federal agencies must reduce petroleum consumption by 20% and increase the use of annual alternative fuel by 10% yearly.
Title II: Energy Security Through Increased Production of Biofuels
Title III: Energy Savings Though Improved Standards for Appliance and Lighting
Title IV: Energy Savings in Buildings and Industry
Other Provisions
- Taxpayer funding of research and development of solar energy, geothermal energy, and marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy technologies.
- Expanded federal research on carbon sequestration technologies.
- Green jobs - creation of a training program for "Energy efficiency and renewable energy workers".
- Energy transportation and infrastructure. New initiatives for highway, sea and railroad infrastructure. Creation of the Office of Climate Change and Environment in the Department of Transportation.
- Small business energy programs, offering small businesses loans toward energy efficiency improvements.
- Smart grid - modernization of the electricity grid to improve reliability and efficiency.
- Pool safety - new federal standards for drain covers and pool barriers.
- Lupus - A consideration not included in the bill was an exclusion for people who have UV sensitivity that can be triggered by the higher UV radiation of the CF's.
Sounds like the Koyoto protocall is coming home to roost?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koyoto_protocol Under the Protocol, 37 countries ("
Annex I countries") commit themselves to a reduction of four
greenhouse gases (GHG) (
carbon dioxide,
methane,
nitrous oxide,
sulphur hexafluoride) and two groups of gases (
hydrofluorocarbons and
perfluorocarbons) produced by them, and all member countries give general commitments. At negotiations, Annex I countries (including the US) collectively agreed to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2% on average for the period 2008-2012. This reduction is relative to their annual emissions in a base year, usually 1990. Since the US has not ratified the treaty, the collective emissions reduction of Annex I Kyoto countries falls from 5.2% to 4.2% below base year
North America
- Canada: emissions trading in Alberta, Canada, which started in 2007. This is run by the Government of Alberta.
- United States:
- the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which started in 2009. This scheme caps emissions from power generation in ten north-eastern US states (Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont).
- emissions trading in California, which is planned to start in 2012.
- the Western Climate Initiative (WCI), which is planned to start in 2012. This is a collective ETS agreed between 11 US states and Canadian provinces.
Did you know that 2 degree increase in surface temprature was noted in North America the time of the Post 911 bombing NO Fly Restrictions, the scientific community had discussed this to no end both for and aginst, airbourne pollutants that filter the suns rays since there were none (because of the groundings) the surface temprature rose accordingly because the clearing off of Smog and airbourne dust generated by general aviation.
