December 19, 2007

Wednesday President Bush signed into law legislation that the White House hopes to reduce America’s dependency on crude oil and ease global warming. But what will these changes mean for your budget?

Energy efficiency is a much talked about topic in the political world, but after Wednesday some energy offending industries could begin to see some big changes down the road and so could your wallet.

Fuel efficient cars, energy saving house hold appliances, and bulbs. Now, it's the law for companies to produce more of these products designed to save you money while saving the environment.

“The industry saw it coming from the point of view of climate change, the need for the U.S. to step up to the plate and be a good corporate citizen,” said Phil Gott, Auto Analyst, Global Insight.

What do these federal changes mean for your check book?

“The newer technologies are going to cost a little bit more money up front, but they're going to save on upper end costs,” said Paxton Marshall, UVa Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

This new legislation will require automakers to build vehicles averaging 35 miles-per-gallon. Marshall said even though your car loan will increase, it's worth it to save on gas.

“The cost per gallon for gasoline, we haven't seen much yet. It's going to be increasing rapidly,” said Marshall.

Some say this bill is a little late. Americans are already looking for energy saving cars.

“People are defiantly more conscious we think of miles per gallon and that is definitely one of the factors of their purchase decision,” said Jamie Schwartz, Brown Auto Director of Marketing.

And it's not just cars. Household appliances will also pick up production and incandescent bulbs will soon be a thing of the past.

“I think this is a good first step moving in the right direction for what we need to do to get in the right place to help global warming to decrease our dependency on oil,” Paige Mattson said, Co-owner of the Blue Ridge Eco Shop.

The legislation ramps up production of ethanol to 36 billion gallons a year by 2022.