However, once a new standard is passed, the industry tends to find a way to meet it at a much lower expected cost. Innovative out-of-the-box thinking generally saves the day, thanks to humankind ingenuity and out-of-the-box thinking. Necessity is the mother of invention. Take sulfur dioxide legislations to combat acid rain and health impacts in the mid-90s. Despite dire predictions by industries on the cost of the complying with the Acid Rain legislation, the cap-and-trade program for SO2 reduced emissions ahead of time and at a significantly lower cost than expected without negative impact on the country’s GDP. Here is a neat graph from the Environmental Defense Fund comparing the projected and actual cost, and the results in reducing pollution.
The IPCC has already warned us that today, we are already past the critical level of carbon in the atmosphere at which catastrophic climate change occurs. By 2020, I wonder how what kind of global climate my kids will live in. Automakers should be accountable for being one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emission. If they truly want to be responsible corporate citizens, here is a challenge with immense opportunities for innovation.
Which part of this bill will pass in the next weeks is yet unclear, but the end result will sure determine our future for a long time to come. The last time the CAFE miles-per-gallon efficiency standards were successfully revised was 1975, during the last energy crisis.
By Marn-Yee Lee Contributing Editor at AskPatty
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