On Tuesday, President Obama signed a bill that sets new fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emission standards for buses, trucks and other vehicles like heavy-duty pickups and vans. The new policy requires buses to deduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 10 percent by 2018.
The guidelines are expected to create an estimated $50 billion in net benefits over the life of model year 2014 to 2018 vehicles, with vehicle owners and operators also seeing cost savings. The standards are meant to save buses and other vehicles one gallon of fuel for every 100 miles traveled, which could end up saving an estimated 530 million barrels of oil. The results are expected to trickle down to consumers and business owners with lower costs for moving goods, and could create more clean energy jobs.
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates the new standards will slash greenhouse emissions by 270 million metric tons, and will reduce emissions of harmful air pollutants that lead to various breathing disorders.
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