New fuel efficiency standards to save oil, cut pollution

The federal government announced its first ever mandatory limits for particular greenhouse gas emissions, as the EPA and the Department of Transportation announced new emissions rules for automobiles and light trucks yesterday.

According to the new regulations, carmakers’ fleets will stop emitting, on average, 250 grams of carbon dioxide per mile per vehicle, when compared to today. Currently, cars are required to officially get at least 27.5 miles per gallon, but the new rules would mandate an average of 35 mpg by 2016. If successful, the net impact of the policy would be the equivalent of removing 30 million cars’ pollution from the road.

We discuss the impact of this policy on the car industry and the environment with Paul Eisenstein, publisher of the Detroit Bureau and David Biello, associate editor of environment and energy for Scientific American.