California’s new greenhouse gas emission standards can be met largely by using existing vehicle technologies and will generate consumer savings by improving fuel economy, a state regulator said, according to the Associated Press (AP).


“We’re not talking about exotic technologies here,” Chuck Shulock, manager of the state Air Resources Board’s greenhouse gas reduction programme, reportedly said, adding: “Significant reductions can be achieved simply by taking existing technologies and applying them very broadly across the (vehicle) fleet.”


AP said Shulock testified at a hearing held by the Assembly Transportation Committee to determine if regulations approved by the ARB last September comply with 2002 legislation that made California the first state to require vehicle companies to reduce greenhouse gases that scientists say contribute to global warming.


The new limits, which will be phased in starting in 2009, are designed to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from new cars, light trucks and sports utility vehicles about 30% by 2016, AP noted.


The Associated Press said a group of automakers and dealers is challenging the state’s effort in court, contending it conflicts with the federal government’s role in setting fuel efficiency standards. The automakers also say the regulations would increase the cost of a new vehicle an average of $US3,000, about three times the top ARB figure.

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But Shulock reportedly said the ARB’s cost estimates were determined by the Martec Group, a company he said was also used by the auto industry to gauge the cost of new technologies.


According to AP, he said any higher prices triggered by the regulations would be “more than offset” for consumers by improved fuel efficiency.


Roland Hwang, vehicles policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, reportedly said automakers have consistently overestimated the cost of emission control requirements in the past.


AP noted that automakers did not testify at the hearing and a call to the Washington headquarters of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, one of the plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit challenging the regulations, was not returned.


Assemblyman Robert Huff reportedly questioned whether the regulations would be undercut by triggering a “performance shift” of motorists moving to heavier, more powerful vehicles.


But Shulock said the regulations wouldn’t weaken vehicle performance, AP said. “We realised that if we’d come in here with a regulation that did that it would not be well received,” it quoted Shulock saying.


He also reportedly said the technological changes required by the regulations wouldn’t boost repair costs. “If anything, some of them are simpler” technologies.


Some of the steps currently available include improved transmissions and cylinder deactivation, which allows an engine to operate on fewer cylinders when the vehicle carries lighter loads, Shulock said, according to AP.


The author of the 2002 legislation, Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, reportedly said the regulations follow the “intent and purpose” of her bill. She added that Canada and at least eight other states are considering implementing the same requirements as California.


“It puts us again in a leadership position that people are watching nationally and internationally,” she said, according to the Associated Press.