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The transportation sector is responsible for about 28 percent of U.S. energy consumption and about one-third of U.S. carbon emissions – more than any other end-use sector except for industry – and its share of consumption and emissions has grown steadily in recent decades. Most petroleum, the main transportation fuel in the United States, is imported, often from politically volatile regions of the world. Reducing transportation energy use would mitigate climate change and improve local air quality while enhancing our national security and lowering pressure on oil prices.
To reduce energy consumption from the transportation sector, we must address both vehicle fuel efficiency (reducing the energy consumed per mile driven) and fuel conservation (reducing the number of miles driven). Modeling by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration, and by environmental think tanks, suggests that without policies to address both fuel efficiency and conservation, transportation emissions will continue to rise, thereby making it harder for the United States to achieve meaningful reductions in carbon emissions.
Vehicle fuel efficiency
There are a variety of policies and programs that can address vehicle fuel efficiency, either by pushing technological innovation or by incentivizing changes in consumer behavior that support a market shift toward more efficient vehicles. Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards set federal requirements for automakers to achieve a minimum sales-weighted average vehicle efficiency, effectively requiring leaps in technological innovation. Tax incentives for the purchase of hybrid-electric cars, among other incentive programs, are aimed at encouraging consumers to buy vehicles that go beyond minimum standards, driving the market toward more efficient vehicles.
Vehicle fuel conservation
The need for policies and programs to reduce vehicle miles traveled has only recently received wide-spread attention at the federal level. This is in part because many of the choices that determine driving behaviors, like zoning regulations and road projects, are made at the local level. However, as climate change has become the subject of nation policy, requirements for state and local governments to achieve emissions reductions from land use planning have been included in the House energy and climate bill. Also, transportation energy efficiency advocates have recently called for a redesign of the federal transportation reauthorization bill – which provides funding for highway and mass transit projects – that reflects the need to reduce vehicle miles traveled. And a host of programmatic possibilities are being explored that could provide commuters with alternatives to driving.
Transportation Legislation & Regulation
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