Research and Development: Lessons Learned from Previous Research Could Benefit FreedomCAR Initiative

摘要

This report discusses our previous work on federal research and development (R&D) initiatives that provide some useful insight as Congress considers the FreedomCAR initiative. As you know, one of the major challenges facing the nation is to reduce the consumption of petroleum in the transportation sector. Transportation represented about two-thirds of total U.S. petroleum, consumption and roughly one-quarter of total national energy consumption. Furthermore, the United States consumes about 45 percent of the gasoline consumed in the world. The nation's continued reliance on petroleum makes the sector highly vulnerable to the uncertainties of the world oil market and greatly increases the difficulty of achieving clean air objectives.