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Mar 31, 2009 04:45 PM | 14
You could get some green if you go green: President Obama is touting legislation that would pay drivers to turn in their gas-guzzling, exhaust-emitting cars for fuel-efficient vehicles.
So-called “cash for clunker” bills moving through the House and Senate would provide vouchers of $2,000 to $5,000 – depending on the age of the clunker, the fuel efficiency of the new car and where it was made – to buyers of greener automobiles. The old car parts would then be recycled. An incentive program in Germany that offered $3,290 to consumers who traded in their old cars hiked auto sales by more than 21 percent last month over the previous February, according to Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH), who is sponsoring legislation on the issue.
“Such fleet modernization programs, which provide a generous credit to consumers who turn in old, less fuel-efficient cars and purchase cleaner cars, have been successful in boosting auto sales in a number of European countries,” Obama said yesterday during a White House speech on bolstering the sagging U.S. auto industry.
A bill Sutton introduced earlier this month would give consumers who turn in cars manufactured before 2001 vouchers of $3,000 if they buy vehicles assembled in North America with a minimum fuel efficiency of 24 miles per gallon; $4,000 if the new car is made in the U.S. and has a fuel efficiency of 27 miles per gallon or better; and $5,000 if the car is American-made and has a minimum fuel efficiency of 30 miles per gallon.
Similar legislation introduced in January by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) would give consumers $2,000 toward the purchase of a new car if they hand over a model made in 1998 or earlier and a $4,500 voucher if they turn in a model manufactured in 2002 or later. That measure doesn’t specify that the car must be U.S.-made.
The program could potentially save tens of thousands of barrels of gasoline daily and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants, according to Feinstein.
Still, some research challenges that idea, arguing that improving energy efficiency (and therefore lowering its cost) may actually increase demand for that power — a so-called rebound effect. In the case of fuel-efficient vehicles, the amount of energy savings is actually 10 to 30 percent less than predictions because of that phenomenon, Frank Grotton, an analyst at the Washington, D.C. nonprofit National Council for Science and the Environment, wrote in a 2001 report.
How enticing will any "cash for clunkers" program be? The appeal of fuel-efficient vehicles tracks with the economy and the cost of gas, says Brett Smith, director of the automotive analysis group at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor. "It's driven for most people by fuel prices and economics," Smith tells ScientificAmerican.com. "As incentive decreases, you find out what that true percent of the market is that’s buying for environmental passion than the economic incentive."
Meanwhile, sales of the Hummer – a symbol of gas guzzling at its greediest – fell by 50 percent last year, a drop that has manufacturer General Motors considering whether to retire or sell the brand (a decision was expected as early as today, but the company will take another few weeks to make one, according to Reuters). “It’s a brand that represents a lot of what people want to get away from,” Rebecca Lindland, an analyst with the research firm I.H.S. Global Insight, told the New York Times. “Even if gas prices are lower, it still kind of radiates conspicuous consumption. Hummer was suddenly perceived as all that’s wrong with America’s dependence on foreign oil.”
The enviro-hostile Hummer gets less than 10 miles per gallon of fuel, which may well be a key reason for its plunging popularity, the New York Daily News reported last summer.
Image by djshaggy via Flickr
Tags:
alternative energy,
greenhouse gases,
fuel,
fuel efficiency,
global warming
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14 Comments
Add CommentSlow week? Having difficulty distinguishing science issues from others?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPity, that. Scientific American really used to be something.
So, now my 21-year old pickup that has a $500 Blue Book value is now worth $5K of your tax money? Communism/Welfare: short-term gain for long term loss.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnd, btw, in the interest of "preventing carbon," how much carbon will be released to build the new 30-mpg car compared to keeping my 20-mpg vehicle on the road another 5 years? Penny wise can be pound foolish.
Great idea! we're finally moving out of the Bush dark ages.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhere is the economic study that this bill is based on? It seems like another feel good deal , based on false man made global warming assumptions. Propping up the auto industry is not a smart way to spend our children's and grandchildren's future money. This is going to devalue the dollar, because it is more deficit spending.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis idea works in a number of countries including Canada. As a side note: If anyone has a 59 Cadillac coupe, or a Chrysler coupe from the fifties or sixties, or an old Ford from before 1954 I've got some money for you.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI just bought a year old car and sold my old faithful. No reduction for me, even though my mileage and CO2 output are considerably reduced. Only new cars get the cash, so tough luck on the second-user market, even though it has a big role to play...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI need cash My President Obama .
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI need cash My President Obama .
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI wonder about possible further effects of the "rebound" effect cited in the article. What will people be doing with that extra driving? I figure only a small portion of it will be just visiting or driving around for the heck of it. There's bound to be some extra business in it for restaurants, stores, entertainment venues, etc. Any chance someone could come up with an estimate of the economic stimulus value of having more folks out and about?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOh, and I think a lot of the people complaining on this site about articles not being science-related are perhaps too stuck in the old mode of not applying science and scientific thinking to the issues at hand.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCan't the "rebound" effect be addressed with a new (soon) carbon fuel tax that fixes the price of gasoline at, say, $3.50 per gallon? Good point, though, about what assumptions have been made regarding the stimulative effect of increased commercial/retail activity at current prices.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAt current prices, this proposal and its possible stiulative effects might provide only a temporary benefit. It might have stronger legs with a carbon fuels tax that fixes the long-term price of U.S. gasoline at, say, $3.50 per gallon. The similar plan in Germany is showing strong success, but fuel prices in Europe have been much higher than U.S. prices for a very long time, so Euro skeptics predict only a short-term stimulative benefit for the German auto industry.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisyou still have to be able to afford the new car after your Obama bucks run out
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhy not just furnish a new car for anyone driving a 1980's back auto. Think how this would improve.. OOPS onee problem what about people who cannot afford a replaceent auto. What about collector autos,$120,000.00 for a 69 poniac? Oh well its only our GRANCHILDRENS money, you done spent all our money thanks to the great House and senate. May God protect this great country.
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