drilling in detroit

The report argues that the US can significantly reduce its oil consumption and environmental footprint by aggressively raising Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. It proposes a path to 40 mpg by 2012 and 55 mpg by 2020 using evolutionary conventional technologies and hybrid electric vehicles. The analysis suggests these improvements would save consumers billions of dollars, create over 100,000 automobile industry jobs by 2020, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 888 million tons by 2020. Furthermore, the report contends that these fuel savings would far exceed the potential oil supply from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and that safety can be maintained or improved through better design and the reduction of weight disparity between light trucks and passenger cars.

• Increasing the new-vehicle fleet fuel economy to 40 mpg by 2012 and 55 mpg by 2020 could significantly reduce US oil use, potentially returning it to 2000 levels by 2017 and saving nearly 5 million barrels of oil per day by 2020.
• The proposed fuel economy improvements would provide substantial financial benefits to consumers, with annual savings reaching $28.3 billion by 2020.
• Aggressive fuel economy standards could stimulate the economy and the automotive sector, potentially creating over 100,000 new automobile industry jobs by 2020.
• The environmental benefits of reaching 55 mpg by 2020 include reducing greenhouse-gas emissions by 888 million tons, toxic emissions by 481 million pounds, and smog-forming pollutants by 1,039 million pounds.
• Fuel savings from improved efficiency would dwarf the potential oil recovery from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; by 2020, the US would save more than four times the oil available in the Refuge.
• Fuel economy gains can be achieved without sacrificing safety by focusing on more-efficient powertrains and reducing the weight and altering the design of light trucks to make them less dangerous to other vehicles.
• The report identifies a 'light-truck loophole' in CAFE standards that allows SUVs, minivans, and pickups to have lower fuel economy requirements than cars, contributing to a decline in average new-vehicle fuel economy to 24 mpg.
• Diesel engines are excluded from the recommended technology paths due to significant risks to human health from toxic, particulate, and nitrogen oxide emissions.

APA

FRIEDMAN, D., MARK, J., MONAHAN, P., NASH, C., & DITLOW, C. (2001). drilling in detroit. Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/drill_detroit.pdf

Chicago

FRIEDMAN, DAVID, JASON MARK, PATRICIA MONAHAN, CARL NASH, and CLARENCE DITLOW. drilling in detroit. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2001. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/drill_detroit.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=FRIEDMAN |first1=DAVID |last2=MARK |first2=JASON |last3=MONAHAN |first3=PATRICIA |last4=NASH |first4=CARL |last5=DITLOW |first5=CLARENCE |title=drilling in detroit |publisher=Union of Concerned Scientists |date=June 2001 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/drill_detroit.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{friedman2001drilling, author = {FRIEDMAN, DAVID and MARK, JASON and MONAHAN, PATRICIA and NASH, CARL and DITLOW, CLARENCE}, title = {{drilling in detroit}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2001}, month = jun, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/drill_detroit.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }