Wednesday, September 01, 2010 :::
The government proposed labeling each new passenger vehicle with a letter grade from A to D based on its fuel efficiency and emissions, part of a broader effort by the Obama administration to promote electric cars and other advanced-technology vehicles.... Currently, the labels must show how many miles per gallon a car gets and its estimated annual fuel cost. Under the proposed changes, a new label design would carry a large letter grade assigned by regulators.
Under the system, the only cars that would receive an A-plus, A or A-minus would be electrics and plug-in hybrids, the government said. þJeff Miron, who asks, "Anyone confused about what the agenda is here?"
Well, if the actual miles per gallon are already being disclosed, along with the estimated fuel cost, it's obviously not "needed to help consumers make the right decision for their wallets and the environment" — that information is already disclosed in a way that is meaningful, as opposed to say, making up categories and giving them unclear, qualitative labels. If you want a credible theory as to the actual agenda, it has to be consistent with the label being based on input rather than output — if you design a vehicle tomorrow that uses new technology to get 100MPG, but it doesn't pull power off the grid, you're not approved — and it has to be based on the new "information" being ultimately made up by technocrats. My guesses as to the "agenda" all fit neatly into two overlapping classes that can be labeled "arrogance" and "corruption". My prior is tilted toward the former, but, as I indicated, they're not mutually exclusive.Labels: energy, environment
::: posted by dWj at 7:19 AM
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