[sustran] Litman on vehicle efficiency

[bruun at seas.upenn.edu]

Quoting Todd Alexander Litman <litman at vtpi.org>:

If the only problems we are concerned about are excessive energy
consumptions and associated pollution emission, then shifting to more
efficient and alternative fuel vehicles may be reasonable solutions,
despite the rebound effects, since there is still a substantial net
reduction in energy use.

However, because of these rebound effects, energy savings benefits are
offset, at least to some degree, by increases in traffic congestion,
road and parking facility costs, traffic accidents and sprawl.
Described in a more positive way, a liter of fuel saved by reducing
vehicle travel is worth far more (about an order of magnitude more
according to my analysis) than an liter saved by increasing energy
efficiency or alternative fuels because reduced mileage provides many
other economic, social and environmental benefits, including congestion
reduction, road and parking facility cost savings, consumer savings,
increased safety and health, and more efficient land use development.
For discussion of this issue see my paper, "Efficient Vehicles Versus
Efficient Transportation: Comparing Transportation Energy Conservation
Strategies", published in Transport Policy, Volume 12, Issue 2, March
2005, Pages 121-129, and available at http://www.vtpi.org/cafe.pdf .
For information on the costs of increased automobile travel see my
report "Transportation Cost and Benefit Analysis"
(http://www.vtpi.org/tca ) and its many references.

We have identified a number of "Win-Win" transportation solutions,
which are policy reforms based on market principles, which help achieve
economic, social and environmental planning objectives by correcting
existing market distortions what result in economically excessive motor
vehicle traffic (see http://www.vtpi.org/winwin.pdf ). Our research
indicates that in a more efficient market, consumers would choose to
reduce their vehicle travel by about a third, rely more on alternative
modes, choose more accessible communities, and be far better off
overall as a result (see http://www.vtpi.org/sotpm.pdf ).

The best way to encourage both efficient vehicles and efficient
transportation is to raise fuel taxes. By stimulating more driving,
subsidizing hybrid vehicles, hyper cars and alternative fuels make
other problems worse. Biofuel subsidies are particularly misguided,
except perhaps for ethanol used to fuel walking and cycling, although I
prefer mine undistilled.


Best wishes,
-Todd Litman