U.S. lawmakers passed a sweeping energy bill on Tuesday that imposes tougher fuel efficiency standards on vehicles — legislation that could dramatically change the cars Americans drive.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid supported a new energy bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington Tuesday.
(Susan Walsh/Associated Press)

The bill, passed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 314-100, will boost mileage by 40 per cent from 25 miles per gallon to an average of 35 miles per gallon — around 6.7 litres per 100 kilometres.

The new legislation also mandates a sixfold increase in the production of renewable fuels such as ethanol to 36 billion gallons. As well, traditional lightbulbs will be phased out by 2014 to be replaced with more energy-efficient lighting.

U.S. President George W. Bush is expected to sign the bill into law on Wednesday. The senate approved it last week.

Nearly two years ago, Bush warned Americans about their addiction to oil. The U.S is the world's biggest oil consumer and it depends on foreign supplies. Earlier this year, Bush called on Americans to reduce gasoline use in the U.S. by 20 per cent in the next 10 years.

"With the stroke of pen we set America on a path to save four million barrels of oil per day by 2030. That's twice the amount of oil we import from the Persian Gulf alone," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Environmentalists hailed the legislation as a good step, but one that didn't go far enough.

"It's not as good as California, it's not as good as it could be and it's not nearly as good as the Europeans," said John Bennett, executive director of Climate for Change.

Automakers have repeatedly fought an increase in the federal fuel standard, known as CAFE, maintaining it would limit the range of vehicles available to consumers and threaten auto industry jobs.

But the automakers have now accepted the political shift toward a tougher requirement.

Democrats said when the fleet of gas-saving vehicles are eventually widely on the road, the fuel economy requirements will save motorists $700 US to $1,000 US a year in fuel costs.

With files from the Associated Press