COST EFFECTIVENESS OF 1985 AUTOMOBILE FUEL ECONOMY STANDARDS
In an evaluation of the cost effectiveness of the current automobile fuel economy standards program, a life cycle cost analysis is used to quantify the costs and benefits of fuel economy improvements stimulated by the program. The magnitude of these improvements is estimated by measuring the difference between the standards and a baseline "no standards" case. Two scenarios are developed to bound the cost of fuel economy improvement: an "optimistic" scenario using technology cost and mpg gains documented by the Department of Transportation, and a "pessimistic" scenario based on conservative technology cost and fuel economy estimates. A review of fuel economy legislation indicates that marginal cost effectiveness to the nation should be a significant criterion for setting future fuel economy standards. Decreasing the 1985 fuel economy standard from 27.5 to 26.5 mpg is shown to result in net consumer losses without accounting for decreases in national benefits. It is recommended that future fuel economy standards account for consumer cost effectiveness, national benefits resulting from reduced petroleum imports, and the economic practicability of achieving the fuel economy standards within the lead times provided by program rulemakings.
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Availability:
- Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/01487191
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Supplemental Notes:
- Presented at SAE Fuels and Lubricants Meeting, Houston, 1-4 October 1979.
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Corporate Authors:
Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)
400 Commonwealth Drive
Warrendale, PA United States 15096 -
Authors:
- Difiglio, C
- Dulla, R
- DULEEP, K G
- Publication Date: 1979
Media Info
- Features: References;
- Pagination: 12 p.
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Serial:
- SAE Technical Paper
- Publisher: Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)
- ISSN: 0148-7191
- EISSN: 2688-3627
- Serial URL: http://papers.sae.org/
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Automobiles; Benefits; Consumers; Cost effectiveness; Fuel conservation; Life cycle analysis; Life cycle costing; Losses; Standards
- Subject Areas: Energy; Finance; Safety and Human Factors;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 00390954
- Record Type: Publication
- Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- Report/Paper Numbers: SAE 790930, HS-028 017U
- Files: HSL, USDOT
- Created Date: Dec 30 1984 12:00AM