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Vehicles sold in the U.S. will be outfitted with fuel-economy stickers

Posted at 5:01 PM on 06 Sep 2007

This is spiffy: all U.S.-sold cars, trucks, and SUVs manufactured after Sept. 1 will feature a window sticker that announces the vehicle's expected miles per gallon, estimated annual fuel cost, and fuel economy compared to similar vehicles. Which will just make it all the more apparent that performance always trumps size.

source: The Daily Green

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Comments: (3 comments)

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Makes absolute sense

Great initiative. In most cases people don't even think about fuel cost since they assume that it will be such a small part of the total cost of the vehicle. But when you calculate it this isn't the case.

Making the fuel cost obvious is a great step towards making people aware of the win-win effect of reducing fuel usage.

TalkClimateChange - news, opinion, talk.

by mseall at 2:29 AM on 07 Sep 2007

Makes Little Sense

Any vehicle's (or product's) contribution to pollution is not limited to how much fuel (or energy) it consumes while is is being used. There are many other sources of pollution in the process of manufacturing anything before and after its use. A car, or its components may be made far away; it may require questionable or dangerous processes to make the parts. Some parts may require special care or disposal when they are at the end of their usable life. The car may be manufactured in areas where the environmental regulations are much less strict. In addition, the longer you keep a vehicle the less you pollute. None of this is addressed with gas mileage data.

The gas mileage data is a nice instrument to sell cars to a semi-conscious population. There is more to a car (or any product) than just the time you use it.

Get a small car, keep it for a decade or longer, and learn how to drive it. I get 40 mpg with a 10 year old Saturn.

Karsten PolluteLessDotCom

by PolluteLessDotCom at 4:49 AM on 07 Sep 2007

more regs that help little

More assumed stats that mean little in the real world. Nobody drives like the tests that determine these numbers. Highway economy? On a long trip perhaps but most commuters drive on highways that barely move.
If we had to drop quarters in a slot at each stop and paid what the actual cost was it would have more impact. Not at all practical but people would be shocked at what it is really costing them. Cost to the planet is still taboo since we all do it.

Here's a game to play; ask an SUV driver how he likes filling that thing up these days. I'll wager that 9/10 will say "It isn't so bad". Ask about the price per liter/gallon and it is a different story. We convince ourselves that we always make the right choice in purchases but "they" are trying to screw us.

by Vikingsson at 6:50 AM on 07 Sep 2007

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