WASHINGTON — A prestigious research panel concluded technology already widely available could significantly cut fuel consumption by cars and light trucks without sacrificing safety or performance.

With some technologies, the fuel consumption by passenger cars, sport-utility vehicles, minivans and light trucks can be reduced by nearly half, but at a price — anywhere from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars per vehicle, the National Research Council said in a report released today.

Critics of offshore drilling pounced on the findings as further evidence that there is a host of options beyond drilling for solving the nation's energy woes.

Said Trevor Jones, chairman of the panel that wrote the report: "Consumers will need to consider the trade-offs between higher vehicle prices and saving fuel and money at the gas pump."

More than two-thirds of total U.S. oil consumption is for transportation, and almost two-thirds of transportation consumption is gasoline used primarily in cars and light trucks.

"Fuel efficiency is a cleaner, cheaper, faster way to go to meet our energy demands than drilling in increasingly risky places — we don't need to be drilling for more oil in the Gulf," said Roland Hwang, the Natural Resources Defense Council's transportation program director.

By The Associated Press