MEDIA ADVISORY: When the Rubber Hits the Road: The Real Story on Fuel Economy in the U.S. and Other Countries

WHAT: Nobody wants to admit that the United States has only made slow progress when it comes to improving on-road fuel efficiency. The media continues to propagate how much stronger other countries’ standards are, which is very misleading. Fuel efficiency ratings in tests are very different from miles-per-gallon on the road, and this fact is almost never noted. With these and so many other misleading and nuanced factors, how are we supposed to figure out what to do?

WHEN: Monday, July 21, 2008
4 p.m. to 5 p.m.

WHERE:
World Resources Institute 10 G Street, NE, Suite 800, Washington, DC 20002 (Metro: Red Line to Union Station)

WHO:
Dr. Lee Schipper, Ph.D., visiting scholar at University of California Berkeley’s Transportation Center, and founder and now fellow emeritus with EMBARQ - the World Resources Institute Center for Sustainable Transport.

WHY: New fuel efficiency standards in the U.S. will reduce on-road fuel use 25 percent by 2035 compared with maintaining the present level of fuel economy. Yet this step alone will not be enough to reduce overall fuel use for automobiles below present levels. By the time the new “2020” U.S. standards have affected every car on the road (2030-2035) the country will only catch up to where Europe is today. Much-lauded changes – such as a higher share of diesel cars in Europe and “flex fuel” use in the U.S. – have produced few results and even backfired, leading to higher overall fuel use.

RSVP: Jonathan Talbot, media officer, +1(202) 729-7828, jtalbot@wri.org

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