by Stephanie Hemphill, Minnesota Public Radio
July 22, 2008
NOTE: Below is only an excerpt, but you can read the whole article by clicking the link above.
"St. Paul, Minn. — As state lawmakers a year ago were setting a goal of reducing Minnesota's carbon emissions 15 percent by 2015 and 80 percent by 2050, lawmakers commissioned the University of Minnesota to conduct a study to determine whether the goal is achievable, and if so, how it can be done.
Julian Marshall is a co-author of the new report.
"We can meet our objectives, but we have to get going now," he said. "We have to begin sooner rather than later."
Marshall teaches environmental engineering at the University of Minnesota. He and his colleagues at the Center for Transportation Studies examined several strategies to see how well they would work to reduce emissions.
The strategies fall into three groups -- making vehicles more efficient; developing fuels that produce fewer emissions; and providing more choices in transportation.
The authors say Minnesota needs to use all three strategies in order to meet the goals in state law.
David Kittelson, a mechanical engineer who specializes in engines and fuels, says people in other countries, including Europe and China, are already driving cars that are as efficient as new U.S. standards call for 17 years from now.
Kittleson says high gas prices are prompting Americans to demand more fuel-efficient cars, and Detroit is starting to get the message.
"The American strategy was always to make a small car chintzy, a little bit noisy, a little bit frayed around edges, a little bit uncomfortable, so that you'd want to buy a bigger car," Kittelson said. "The Europeans have shown that you can make smaller cars comfortable, quiet, luxurious, and still get good fuel economy."
The report proposes what the researchers call a feebate system. The idea combines fees on gas-guzzlers with rebates for more efficient cars.
It says we need to move beyond corn-based ethanol to cellulosic biofuels which are made with non-food crops, such as switchgrass.
It adds that electric vehicles would reduce carbon emissions, but only if the electricity isn't made with coal. David Kittelson says wind power isn't the only option. He says Sweden gets one-third of its electricity from biomass, such as waste from agriculture and forestry.
"The best thing you can do to biomass is to put it into a power plant, burn it, make electricity, and use that to drive electric vehicles," Kittelson said."
We are liking the way Marshall and Kittelson think! We just wish the rest of the world would catch on.
We never really thought about the big 3 making small cars inconvenient to own to reduce sales, and although we are sure that it is purely speculative, it IS believable. Some of us here at TheE85Scam.com have worked in the auto industry for the last 20 years and have no problems believing it is possible from the waste and illogical decisions we have seen.
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