Efforts to drastically slash automobile emissions and fuel use within forty years don’t stand a chance without subsidies, technology improvements and more stringent government standards, according to a report by a panel of experts released this week. In 2010, Congress directed the National Research Council to assess the feasibility of reducing both gasoline use and greenhouse gas emissions in cars and light trucks by 80 percent by 2050. The council concluded that the goal would be “extremely challenging.” Even hitting an intermediate target — cutting fuel use in half by 2030 — would be “very difficult,” the council reported.
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