Obama speech on energy policy

[Frank Lee]

If it's coming off a Detroit assembly line it would meet the requirements, yes. But nooooo.

[Clev]

Are any cars made in Detroit at all anymore?

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by SentraSE-R

Is 51.4 mpg sufficient?

And in Europe, that 2.0L diesel would be regarded as a big engine.
The most frugal versions would get a 1.6 or 1.5 L (diesel) engine if it was a European car.

[d0sitmatr]

I hope the quoted text from that article is sarcasm...

We expect no 'merican would even be interested.

[JasonG]

Originally Posted by d0sitmatr

I hope the quoted text from that article is sarcasm...

Sadly there is a lot of truth there.
One day this country will wake up and go diesel (hopefully from natural sources) like other areas.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by JasonG

One day this country will wake up and go diesel (hopefully from natural sources) like other areas.

Those other areas are about to move away from diesel.
It's not the miracle solution you may think it is.
At the current state fo technology, it's got serious issues.

I'm not the only one out there struggling with the particulate filter - which may even put out more harmful, but far smaller soot than the black clouds of days gone by.

NOx emissions are still a lot higher than on a petrol engine.

The oil gets more polluted than in a petrol of gas (CNG / LPG) car, making it harder to recycle.

My bet is on methane.
It burns very cleanly - emitting CO2 and water.
Though still mostly a fossil fuel, it can be fairly easily generated in a sustainable way.
It's still cheap to use.
A comprehensive distribution network is readily available - at least in most of Europe.

In a sense it has similar drawbacks to hydrogen (low energy density, needs to be pressurized) but nowhere near as extreme as with hydrogen.