fuel efficiency - The Environment Report

White House Pushes Fuel Additive

New ethanol plants are under construction since the White House has mandated that California use ethanol to replace MTBE as an additive to reduce smog. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham has more:

Transcript

Farmers in the Midwest have seen depressed prices for corn in recent years. That’s why they were thrilled to hear the demand for ethanol might double because California will be required to use corn-based ethanol to replace the now banned MTBE. The requirement came despite the fact that technical staff at the EPA found California could have cleaner air without ethanol. Frank O’Donnell is with the environmental group, Clean Air Trust.

“The Bush administration came in and made a totally political decision to discard the technical information of the EPA’s best scientists and said, essentially, California had to use an ethanol mandate.”

The Clean Air Trust says the Bush Administration was under pressure by Archer Daniels Midland’s lobby engine. ADM produces more than half the ethanol used in the U.S. and was a major contributor to the Bush Campaign. The EPA’s administrator, Christine Whitman, says the decision was simply about enforcing the Clean Air Act. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.

Commentary – Gasoline Hike a Good Thing?

Earlier this month, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration made headlines when it announced that the winter of
1999-2000 was the warmest one in 105 years. But Great Lakes Radio
Consortium commentator Suzanne Elston thinks that the real news is at
the gas pumps:

Automakers Unveil Green Concept Cars

Ford and General Motors each plan to unveil new
environmentally friendly concept cars at this year’s North American
International Auto Show in Detroit. The cars are the outgrowth of an
initiative between the federal government and the big three auto
companies to develop a car that could fit a family of five but get 80 miles
to the gallon. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Julie Edelson Halpert has more:

Transcript

Ford and General Motors each plan to unveil new environmentally friendly concept cars at this

year’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The cars are the outgrowth of an

initiative between the federal government and the big three car companies to develop a car that

could fit a family of five but get eighty miles to the gallon. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s

Julie Edelson Halpert has more:

A mid-sized vehicle that triples the fuel economy of today’s cars. That was once only a pipe dream

for domestic auto makers. But after six years of research, they’ve done it. Using a combination

diesel and electric engine, Ford and General Motors have developed cars that get gas mileage up to

eighty miles per gallon. Jeff Coleman is a spokesman for General Motors. He says GM’s car, the

Precept, makes great environmental strides. but one big obstacle remains: cost.

“Many of the technologies that are on the GM Precept are not in high volumes today, and so you’d

expect the vehicle to be quite expensive. And the job over the next few years is to learn more

about these technologies, put these into use in real vehicles that are on the road today.”

Coleman says that as the technologies become more widespread, costs will come down. The auto

companies hope to develop an affordable high mileage car by 2003.

For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Julie Edelson Halpert.

Automakers Accelerate Toward Greener Cars

In the next few months, Honda and Toyota each will launch a
new type of super clean car, called a hybrid. The fact that the
Japanese
are
first to market hybrid vehicles concerns some environmentalists.
They’re
worried that domestic auto makers aren’t moving fast enough on this
promising technology. But in an unusual move, environmentalists are not
chastising the big three. Instead, they’re lending a helping hand. The
Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Julie Edelson Halpert files this report:

Bringing Clean Cars to the U-S Market

Two Japanese auto manufacturers soon will unveil a new,
cleaner type of car for the U-S market. It’s called a hybrid. Hybrids
rely
on gasoline, but use an electric engine to double the fuel efficiency
and
emit fewer pollutants. So far, no domestic automaker has come forward
with a hybrid car. And that’s troubling environmentalists. They’re
worried
that the U-S could fall behind its foreign competitors. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Julie Edelson Halpert has the story:

The Spirituality of a S-U-V Driver

Surveys show that Sport Utility Vehicles remain a popular choice
among car buyers. But if you drive a small car, or if you are worried
about air pollution, you may not be happy with the increasing numbers of
S-U-V’s on the road. Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator Matthew
Lawrence agrees, but he thinks S-U-V’s are, on a deeper level, a spiritual
problem:

Cleaning Up the Dirty Diesels

The rule in driving these days seems to be that bigger is better, with
light trucks and sport utility vehicles overtaking the road. But as
automakers bask in their high profits from the pricey vehicles, a new
challenge looms…how to make them more fuel efficient. The trucks guzzle
substantially more gas and emit more pollutants than passenger cars and
the government is putting pressure on automakers to clean them up. Now,
an unlikely candidate is emerging to solve the problem. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Julie Edelson Halpert reports:

Electric Cars Drive Into Zoos

Environmentally friendly electric trucks can be spotted driving
around in some Midwestern cities. On college campuses, including the
University of Michigan, electric pickup trucks are used in campus
courtyards, botanical gardens and other places where noise or exhaust
are
a problem. The next place you’re likely to see electric trucks will be
your local zoo. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tamar Charney has
the story: