[sustran] [World Streets] Mr. Meter on America's Cash for Clunkers

[Eric Britton]

                         World Streets: Heavy traffic on the way to
sustainable cities and sustainable lives . . .
 
Mr. Meter on America's Cash for Clunkers
 
 
If matters of climate, sustainable transportation and scarce resources are
close to your heart, and you happen to be European, you may have some
reserves about your country's ecologically billed,
<http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kbTo-M_pSuw/SoJarJyli7I/AAAAAAAABZM/2wFMywAX8YM/s
1600-h/pic-schipper.jpg> and energetically buttressed "Cash for Clunkers"
(in more polite Euro language of course) program. Let a couple of Americans
help you to feel less embarrassed.

Before you dig in, a summary:
Schipper's real concerns in this article published earlier this week in the
Washingtom
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2009/08/08/GR200908080
2658.html>  Post are these: First, the CO2 saved come principally because
the cars bought under C4C are slightly more fuel economic than others
bought. But the CO2 saved over the lifetime of the new car is extremely
expensive, hundreds of dollars per tonne. If Americans are whining over
cap-and-trade or a carbon tax in the tens of dollars per tonne, why embrace
something so much more expensive for the taxpayer. And at the end of the day
C4C doesn't fix transport, it only fixes a tiny bit of CO2. Schipper is
worried that Americans will now set back and breath a sigh of relief, when
the real work lies ahead.

And as to our European friends, the situation is no less (I choose my word)
stupid. See the Associated Press piece below summarizing the state of play
of C4C in eleven European cities. Stupidity is clearly viral. 


--> The full text of this article appears in World
<http://newmobilityagenda.blogspot.com/>  Streets today at
http://WorldStreets.org/  
 
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