ecoENERGY for Personal Vehicles

February 14, 2007

• The ecoENERGY for Personal Vehicles Initiative will encourage and support improvements in energy efficiency through personal vehicle use and choice. Funding of $21 million has been allocated to this program.
  
  
• The program will provide the resources to support the work with the vehicle industry through the voluntary Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and result in improved fuel efficiency in new vehicles and reduced emissions. The target for the MOU is to realize a 5.3‑megatonne reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per year from light-duty vehicle use by 2010.
  
  
• Improvements to fuel efficiency achieved through this agreement will provide a foundation for the regulations that will come into force for the 2011 model year as part of the Clean Air Regulatory Agenda announced last fall.
  
  
• ecoENERGY for Personal Vehicles will influence consumer vehicle choice by providing information and decision-making tools such as the annual Fuel Consumption Guide and the fuel consumption labels that are affixed to more than 1 million new vehicles sold in Canada each year. A new best-in-class ranking system will point consumers to the most efficient vehicles.
  
  
• Training in fuel-efficient driving will continue to be offered to new drivers, and Canadians will be encouraged to change their driving habits through ongoing and new activities with partners across Canada.
  
  
• Estimated emissions reductions from all activities in the ecoENERGY for Personal Vehicles Initiative will be 5.4 megatonnes of GHGs, equivalent in energy savings to taking approximately 950,000 cars off the road.

Other ecoENERGY Initiatives

The Government of Canada's ecoENERGY Initiatives, managed by Natural Resources Canada, are a focused set of measures that will boost clean energy supplies, help Canadians use energy more efficiently and reduce air pollutants and other emissions from conventional energy sources. They are part of the Government of Canada's ambitious and realistic agenda to address climate change and protect the health of Canadians and our environment.

The ecoENERGY for Personal Vehicles Initiative complements the Government's Clean Air Regulatory Agenda announced last fall, and joins three other ecoENERGY Initiatives already in place:

• the ecoENERGY Efficiency Initiative, which includes the new ecoENERGY Retrofit Program to support energy efficiency improvements in homes and small buildings and industry;
  
  
• the ecoENERGY Technology Initiative to fund the research and development of clean energy technologies; and
  
  
• the ecoENERGY Renewable Initiative designed to boost Canada's renewable energy supplies.