Lose 10 pounds and fix global warming
posted in Policy, Fuels |The Wall St Journal today featured an opinion piece by Holman W. Jenkins Jr taking a double shot at legislators trying to improve fuel efficiency standards and the US auto industry. His argument is that the CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standard is being revamped this year is not because it is the most efficient technical or market solution to carbon emmissions, but because it is –as he puts it– a “political path to a purely political goal” and “the auto industry is the softest target politicians can find.” I think he has a point. We would be better served by policies that promote technical innovation and entrepreneurship, then let the free markets run with it.
GM’s vice-chairman Bob Lutz seems to agree in some backwards way, saying, “Toyota is miraculous and GM is run by a bunch of aging stumblebums who wouldn’t know technology if it hit ‘em in the face.”
However, Jenkins does offer one argument in defense of the auto industry, quoting an academic study that suggests while emmissions technology has improved, Americans have offset the advancements by getting fatter:
Americans are now pumping 938 million gallons of fuel more annually than they were in 1960 as a result of extra weight in vehicles. And when gas prices average $3 a gallon, the tab for overweight people in a vehicle amounts to $7.7 million a day, or $2.8 billion a year.
The free market might suggest a gym membership and the South Beach diet as an attainable way for individuals to contribute in the fight against global warming and stop pushing their congressmen towards poorly designed policies. In the end, though, I guess it’s not as politically efficient and the effort would have to find a replacement for Al Gore as spokesman…
