Meanwhile, Back in the States...

... a coalition of environmental groups is calling for a fuel economy standard of 60 miles to the gallon by 2025.

In a letter to their  President, they cite global pollution, rising fuel prices, political considerations, the need to invest in clean energy and job creation as reasons for their call.

Their website addresses Americans directly, giving four reasons to support the initiative ; to save money, to reduce air pollution, as a step towards energy independence and to "spark innovations that create new jobs".

Their target may sound a touch ambitious but there again, a target date 2025 does allow generous time for that to be achieved. Those of us who live in manufacturing areas of the UK (Aerospace and Toyota both have plants in Derbyshire),  will be aware that the UK is already heading in the direction of fuel efficient technology, with Aerospace in particular having introduced a number of innovations.

The G60 campaign can be found at ;

www.go60mpg.org .

Organisations involved in the campaign include the Sierra Club (the US sister organisation to the UK`s John Muir Trust) ,  an umbrella group called Environment America and scientific group UCS. For full details see www.go60mpg.org/about-us .