Electricity is not a fuel. Power companies will use the cheap available coal fired generating capacity to make the electricity, and it has nothing to do with the ‘mix’ of generating types in the status quo. Coal is the fuel and electricity is the carrier of the fuel, much the same as a bicycle chain carries energy from one sprocket to another. Electricity carries energy from one rotating machine to another.

Coal systems are 31% efficient; average in the USA.

So CO2 comparisons should be made on the assumption that marginal response to new loads will be coal, and the CO2 emitted per BTU of heat is about 35% higher for coal systems than gasoline. Both coal and gasoline require processes that emit CO2 to get them to the point of conversion to heat, and these roughly balance each other.

-Saying 74% of respondents favor 60+ mpg standards is like saying 74% of respondents favor ending global hunger. If you want to see what those respondents are actually buying, however, don’t look at the polls — look at the industry sales figures. You won’t find that 74% efficient car support there! It’s far more likely that future mileage figures will be “fudged” than that they will get 60+ real-world mpg, unless fuel prices or registration fees for low-mileage cars/trucks go considerably higher, or unless our engineers and designers are given adequate support.

1. Offer higher tax rebates on buying hybrids or other fuel efficient models
2. Add a sales tax on inefficient cars like SUV’s
3. Add a higher gasoline tax

All three of these give americans the choice on whether they want to pay to have a less efficient car, and it will drive up sales of higher efficiency cars, and thus the price on them will come down. But of course our government is not smart enough to use the system to its advantage, no it would rather try to implement its own version of socialism on us all.

By the way 2011 Honda Accord 4 cylinder is CAFE 35 MPG (EPA 27 MPG) – already meats 2016 CAFE requirements!