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Getting Fired Up on Cleaner Internal Combustion Technologies

Regarding the fuel economy part of regulations -

if people drive x amount of miles per day - does increasing fuel economy reduce driving? Obviously it would be cheaper to drive so now people will be encouraged to drive the same or more even with an offsetting increase in gas. There will be an inverse effect on emissions - cheaper mileage expense more DRIVING - greater emissions.

If the gas price does rise - hostile nations gain revenue people can now offset the price increase with better fuel mileage.

Ca -clearly the most important issue is air pollution around the city -

The higher economy cars cost more to the consumer and impact car co and their research budgets for alt energies.

The fuel economy sometimes goes by category - now people will upgrade to bigger categories to gain interior space while gaining greater fuel economy.

The argument is increasing fuel economy will reduce overall consumption of gas - but this is not No 2heating oil for the home where demand is constant - it has behavioral demand characterstics such as cruising - home buying, second homes, vacation travel, no of household vehicles etc.

Overall as a policy for tens of millions car drivers - regulations such as these need more transparency.