From the L.A. Times:
Future cars, now
California's Air Resources Board should set standards that push the industry beyond old under-the-hood technology to achieve cleaner, more efficient cars.
Two federal agencies, working with California, have taken the biggest step in the nation's history to reduce the United States' global warming footprint. On Thursday, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced specific rules that require automakers to build cars, SUVs and minivans that will average 35.5 mpg by 2016 and cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 30%, thereby saving an estimated 1.8 billion barrels of oil.
It's been a long haul. For a dozen years, the auto industry stymied efforts in Washington to improve fuel economy standards. California stepped in, enacting its own emissions law in 2002 under the federal Clean Air Act. Last May, President Obama instructed the EPA and NHTSA to use the California benchmark to set new national standards for fuel economy and emissions.
These national rules are a good step forward, but they're not enough. Now it is time for California to show the way again.
... To cut global warming, the auto companies must build clean, smaller cars -- without sacrificing safety. Safety is a function of design and technology, not just of size.
[Read more....]
It appears that size matters... something about physics.
I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it...
I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it ...
I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it...
I want it, I want it, NOW!
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