Filed under: Diesel, Ethanol, EV/Plug-in, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, Legislation and Policy, Europe/EU, South/Latin America, USA
Markets are great - but the true costs of our fuel choices are not reflected in the price
There an argument that is often repeated, and sounds pretty logical when you first hear it: we should let consumers pick which fuel technologies win, thus letting the market do its work. President Obama's recent announcement on a Clean Fleet Partnership promoted a flurry of stories and editorials arguing this exact point.
In the auto industry, the reasoning continues: set the fuel economy targets, encourage the auto makers to compete and let innovation be the factor that separates the winners from the losers. The problem is that this over-simplistic view assumes that markets correctly price the total cost of each fuel that consumers might choose. Unfortunately, markets don't.
In today's world of transportation fuel choices, we're seeing a growing proliferation of alternatives, with each of those choices having consumer economics and societal economics that are dramatically different. Our markets and present transportation policies just aren't sophisticated enough to price in the direct and negative indirect costs of each of these choices.Let's take corn ethanol. Certainly, second-generation biofuels have great potential as automotive fuels. But they've been "just around the corner" for years now and may stay that way for a long time. When I lived in Brazil running Ford's South American operations, I was a strong advocate for the sugar cane-derived ethanol that was used in the flex-fuel cars that have become pretty much standard in that country. But ethanol derived from corn is drastically inferior to sugar cane ethanol - and its overall carbon efficiency is neutral at best and negative at worst. It can take more energy to produce a gallon of corn ethanol than the energy you get back from it. Continue reading...
[Image: ToastyKen - C.C. License 2.0]
Continue reading Is it really possible to have consumers pick which fuel technologies will win?
Is it really possible to have consumers pick which fuel technologies will win? originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Wed, 18 May 2011 20:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsSource: http://green.autoblog.com/2011/05/18/possible-to-have-consumers-pick-which-fuel-technologies-win/
automotive parts manufacturing association auto brokers los angeles automotive industries association automotive parts sales
No comments:
Post a Comment