Accelerating Fuel-Efficiency, Cutting Energy Dependence

President Obama is ordering the EPA and the Transportation Department to reexamine two policies that could force automakers to make more fuel-efficient cars producing fewer emissions associated with global warming. The Washington Post reports the two directives – one requiring an average of 35 miles per gallon fuel efficiency by 2020, and another which could give states more power to regulate tailpipe emissions – are intended as a move toward greater energy independence.

Our Foreign Policy Index has found that reduced dependence on foreign sources for energy is the public's most favored strategy for enhancing the security of the U.S. and a Gallup poll found 44 percent support for banning vehicles that do not average at least 30 miles per gallon and 38 percent support for "imposing tough restrictions on U.S. industries and utilities."

That same poll, done in March of last year, found strong support for a number of items described as steps that individuals can take to reduce global warming. Support was 78 percent for "spending several thousand dollars to make your home energy-efficient," 77 percent for taking mass transit whenever possible, 71 percent for installing solar panels at home, 69 percent for using only fluorescent bulbs at home, 62 percent for buying a hybrid car, 57 percent for unplugging electronic equipment when not in use and 34 percent for "supporting the construction of a nuclear power plant near your home."

Fifty-eight percent, however, said even if individuals do all they can, more drastic measures will still be needed. Sixty-five percent want the government to start a major research effort to develop new energy sources; sixty percent want government office buildings to use renewable sources of energy; forty-six percent favor a utility bill surcharge when energy use limits are exceeded; and thirty-six percent endorse land use policies to discourage suburban sprawl.

Earlier surveys found that while a strong majority favors stricter laws to protect the environment, a much smaller majority favors doing so even if they have to pay higher prices, and when the economy is lagging, support diminishes for the idea of protecting the environment even at the risk of curbing economic growth – a choice a majority say they don't believe is necessary.

Those contradictions in public thinking suggest a bigger problem: there's a real mismatch between leaders and citizens on how to address energy problems. Our Putting the Pieces Together focus group study found that most people define the problem very differently than the experts do -- and that complicates crafting a sound energy policy.

Citizen involvement is a factor in both individual measures to fight global warming and in the measures that our policymakers pursue and adopt. To learn more about this issue, check out our Citizen's Survival Kit guide to Climate Change and then download our Choicework Discussion Guide, Facing the Challenges of Climate Change: A Guide for Citizen Thought and Action, for help in examining the options for action in your own community.