Is “twenty in Ten” Possible?

President George W. Bush, during his State of the Union Address in January of this year, outlined his administrations goals. One of these goals is to cut down the dependency of the United States on foreign oil. He dubbed it the “Twenty in Ten” which is a reduction of twenty percent on gasoline consumption over the next ten years.

In order for this goal to be achieved, the President recently urged legislators to pass bipartisan legislations aimed at making vehicles produced in the United States more fuel efficient. He urged the Congress to pass laws which support the “Twenty in Ten” goal of the administration by the start of the summer season when the prices of gasoline is once again expected to rise.

Aside from urging the Congress to enact laws, the President also showed his dedication to the energy independence goal for the country by visiting facilities where developments are made in the alternative fuel industry. Recently, the president visited a General Motors assembly plant in Fairfax and he also did take time to drop by Ford’s assembly plant in Kansas City where he toured the hybrid vehicle assembly and addressed the workers.

Both the said facilities by the two biggest car manufacturers in the United States are producing hybrid vehicles which are geared towards fuel economy. These facilities are also making good steps forward in the development of green cars like flex fuel vehicles which can run on E85 fuel which is a combination of bio-ethanol and conventional gasoline. The vehicle being produced and developed at these facilities are even more fuel efficient than Volvo cars equipped with Volvo performance chips.

“Twenty in Ten” is divided into two fronts and both of which complement the other. And if both fronts are properly addressed, the goal will be quite possible to achieve. One half of the goal is the demand side or the demand for fuel by vehicles. The demand for foreign oil by vehicles in the United States is aimed to be cut down by lowering the fuel consumption of not only large vehicles but also of smaller cars.

The President urges the Congress to enact laws which will lower the standard fuel consumption of vehicles sold in the United States. The other half of the goals is concerned about the supply side. In this regard, the President proposes a legislation which will increase the amount of mandatory alternative fuels produced in the country. The proposed mandatory fuel production will be increased to 35 billion gallons in the year 2017 - this is nearly five times of the current target.

The country needs to step up its production of domestic fuel to reduce the amount of fuel imported from other countries around the world.