The US government needs to move more quickly on plans to boost automobile fuel efficiency standards, improve efficiency of power plants and take hard action on heat-trapping greenhouse gases, the International Energy Agency said on Friday.
The IEA, energy advisor to 27 industrialised countries, applauded the US Congress for passing a law in December that boosts the fuel efficiency for cars and trucks for the first time since 1975. However, the IEA pointed out that the stricter Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards for cars and light trucks won't take full effect before 2020.
"Given the technologies being implemented in vehicles today, it is doubtful whether such a long time frame is really necessary to allow carmakers to adapt and it will leave consumers with vehicles that fall short of the technological possibilities," the agency said.
The new fuel-efficiency standards are the result of a hard-fought deal with Detroit automakers like General Motors Corp, who had warned that faster timetables could put more burdens on struggling US automakers. The IEA pointed out that the US rules lag many of its member countries, and are even behind standards set by China and India.
The United States is also falling behind on improving the efficiency of electric power plants, the IEA said. While other industrialized nations have improved generation efficiency dramatically over the last decade, "the US has stood still, despite the introduction of new, efficient technology," the IEA said.
US utilities should make more use of existing technology that uses ultra-supercritical pulverised coal plants, which could reduce emissions by 20 percent "without requiring the introduction of unproven technology," the IEA said.
A lack of federal rules on greenhouse gas emissions has created uncertainty that has made private industry reluctant to invest in new power plants and refineries, the IEA said. There are several bills in the US Congress to slap the first-ever federal caps on carbon dioxide emissions blamed on rising earth temperatures. But such legislation is far from being enacted, and the Bush administration opposes any mandatory federal caps on emissions.
The IEA also said the United States should enact a requirement for utilities to derive a set percentage of their power from renewable sources like wind and solar.
An energy bill passed by the US House of Representatives last year would have required utilities to get 15 percent of their power from renewables by 2020, but the measure was dropped from the final bill after the White House threatened a veto. The US Congress should also extend tax credits for installing solar panels and windmills, the IEA said.