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Glossary of Terms

CAFE Standards
CAFE standards (short for Corporate Average Fuel Economy) measure fuel economy, or miles per gallon, for automobiles and light trucks. They were originally implemented during the oil embargo crises of the 1970s. The measurement represents the average fuel economy of a manufacturers’ entire fleet of vehicles, although many large vehicles such as SUVs are exempt.

Congress is debating whether to raise the CAFE standards to 35 miles per gallon by 2020, compared to the 21 mpg today in 2007. The goal of raising the standards is to greatly reduce carbon dioxide emissions from auto exhaust. Carbon dioxide is one of the greenhouse gases contributing to global warming
and climate change.

CAFE standards attract a fair amount of controversy. Some worry that they are actually inadequate measures of fuel economy. Others worry about their impact on the profits of domestic auto manufacturers. Some consumers do not even know that such standards exist, although due to increasing gas prices many are making car purchase choices accordingly, and buying vehicles that burn less gasoline.
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“We have a very brief window of opportunity to deal with climate change… no longer than a decade at most.”
- James Hansen, NASA climate researcher
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