Good news for the environment: More fuel-efficient and cleaner-burning automobiles are on the horizon.

It's also good news for Hawai'i, which has a fragile environment and among the nation's highest gasoline prices.

The new standards for fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions, announced Tuesday by President Obama, represent a major advancement in reducing the environmental damage wreaked by vehicles — the source of 25 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. It's also a promising step toward reducing our thirst for foreign oil, especially in 90 percent-dependent Hawai'i.

Fuel-efficiency standards for passenger cars would increase to 39 miles per gallon, up from 27.5, by 2016; for light trucks, the average would be 30 mpg, up from 23 mpg. Also, for the first time, limits will be imposed on tailpipe emissions from light trucks and cars.

The result could be more plug-in hybrids and electric cars — a promising development in Hawai'i, which is pushing hard to develop alternative, clean energy sources that could power them.

Like many "green" initiatives, this one comes with a price tag — by some estimates, as much as $1,300 to the average cost of making a vehicle. It will also take some R&D ingenuity for automakers to meet the standards and still build cars that SUV-loving Americans want to buy.

Still, automakers will have several years to retool their product lines. And even though the new standards are stricter, they offer something the auto industry has wanted — a uniform national standard and predictable regulations. No more separate standards for states like California. That's one reason that after years of fighting with the environmental lobby, automakers have lined up in support. Now that's real progress.