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Backseat Driver: Clouds on the horizen

Cars are not going away. They are too good at doing what they do.

But with crude oil prices flirting with $100 a barrel, continued and growing demand for petroleum products from the developing world, especially China and India, and the Bush administration's sabre rattling against Iran, it is only a matter of time before gas prices take another bump, maybe this time to more than $4 a gallon.

We seem to be living in a dream world. Our armed forces are fighting under horrendous physical and psychological conditions in Iraq, but we scarcely pay them any heed. Indeed, most of us seem to have bowed out of the whole Iraq front on Bush's War on Terror in frustration.

Nothing seems to be going right. The bombs continue in both Iraq and Afghanistan, the last remaining cohorts of Bush's coalition of the willing are edging for the exit and our fragile ally Pakistan is in a political meltdown. Not encouraging when one considers that Pakistan all but has the bomb while its inpeneterable Northwest Frontier is a bastion of terrorism and terrorists.

Meanwhile, the Treasury Department reported earlier in the week that our national debt hit a record $9 trillion. Together with the mortgage meltdown here at home, and a warning from Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke that the economy is slowing and one might be justified in thinking dark thoughts about the immediate future.

But it is just this kind of incentive that is going to drive folks to fuel efficient vehicles. Yes, the sky may be falling in terms of global warming, but the bottom line for most folks is the bottom line on their household budgets. And so expect to see increasing numbers of people being motivated by fuel efficiency rather than granola crunchy idealism as they move toward alternate fuels.

And cars are certainly got going away in Germany where the transport minister this week announced that about half of its autobahn (interstate) highway system would remain with no speed limits.

The Social Democrats wanted to impose a 130 kilometer per hour (80 mph) speed limit to help reduce CO2 emissons.

Wow. And you wondered why Germany produces so many high performace cars? They can really drive 'em!

- Peter C. T. Elsworth

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 1:47 PM to commentary | Permalink | Comments 0

Ford to cut more jobs, CEO says

Having eliminated more than 44,000 jobs, Ford is on track with its turnaround plan but looking to cut more jobs in the face of a softening auto market, according to Detroit Free Press.

Ford reported a better-than-expected net loss of 19 cents per share, or $380 million, in the third quarter -- a $4.9-billion improvement over last year's July-September period. The automaker also revealed it will not sell Volvo and that it has hit its job-reduction targets under its Way Forward turnaround plan for North America.

But Ford CEO Alan Mulally was clear in a conference call with auto analysts and journalists Thursday that the job cuts at Ford are not over, especially given the $1-billion pretax loss in North America in the third quarter.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:06 AM to Ford | Permalink | Comments 0

California sues EPA over auto emissions

SACRAMENTO — California sued the federal government on Thursday to force a decision about whether the state can impose the nation's first greenhouse gas emission standards for cars and light trucks, according to the Associated Press.

More than a dozen other states are poised to follow California's lead if it is granted the waiver from federal law, presenting a challenge to automakers who would have to adapt to a patchwork of regulations.

The state's lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., was expected after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vowed last spring to take legal action.

"Our future depends on us taking action on global warming right now," Schwarzenegger said during a news conference. "There's no legal basis for Washington to stand in our way."

At issue is California's nearly two-year-old request for a waiver under the federal Clean Air Act allowing it to implement a 2002 state anti-pollution law regulating greenhouse gases.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 9:48 AM to Environment | Permalink | Comments 0

China Signals Rejection of Emission Caps

BEIJING -- A Chinese official gave the clearest sign yet that Beijing will reject binding caps on greenhouse gas emissions at a global meeting next month, saying Friday developing countries must be allowed to raise emissions to fight poverty, according to the Associated Press.

"Climate change is caused mainly by developed countries," Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui said. "They should have the main responsibility for climate change and to reduce emissions."

Beijing is about to overtake the United States as the world's top greenhouse-gas producer. It is under pressure from Washington to accept binding limits at a meeting in Indonesia of environment ministers from 80 nations to discuss a possible replacement to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on emission reductions.

Nations agreed in Kyoto to cut output of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases to below 1990 levels by 2012. But China, India and other developing economies are exempt.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 9:46 AM to Environment | Permalink | Comments 0