Green Options

A new report by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Energy Initiative predicts that a 30-50% reduction in fuel consumption is possible in the US over the next 25-30 years. Initially, this will be achieved through improved gasoline and diesel engines and transmissions, gasoline hybrids and reductions in vehicle weight and drag. In the longer term, the study concludes that plug-in hybrids and, later, hydrogen fuel cells may begin to have a significant impact on fuel use and emissions.

The report, ‘On the Road in 2035: Reducing Transportation’s Petroleum Consumption and GHG Emissions,’ summarizes the results of an MIT research project that assessed the technology of vehicles and fuels that could be developed and commercialized during the next 25 years.

The research team assessed the effect of new vehicle and fuel technologies on the performance, cost and lifecycle emissions of individual vehicles. It then assessed the effects on the total on-the-road fleet of introducing these technologies using “plausible assumptions about how rapidly they could be developed, manufactured and sold to buyers to replace existing vehicles and fuels or to add to the existing fleet.”

Other key findings include:

Over Mother’s Day Weekend, 1Sky organized families across 43 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, to create murals calling for stronger climate leadership. My daughter and I held our own private event (we live in such a remote region that no one else signed up) by creating a photo collage of our Mother’s Day Hike. Unfortunately, we did not complete the project on time to participate in their trip to DC. The murals were brought to DC to remind Congress that the Americans want a strong, science-based climate policy.

1Sky was one of the few envrionmental groups that opposed the recently defeated Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act. “The failure of the deeply-flawed Lieberman-Warner bill gives us a fresh chance to protect our childrens’ climate,” said Betsy Taylor, president of 1Sky’s Board of Directors. “New climate legislation must focus on reducing carbon emissions quickly and effectively, and on schedule with or even ahead of recommendations made by international climate scientists so the U.S. can be a leader in this field.” Hopefully a new Congress and new president will hear the message on the 1Sky murals.