Monday, July 18, 2005

Reducing omissions

The Tyee points out a Kyoto strategy that would do a lot more good than the current plan:
Feebates are a novel combination of fees and rebates, designed to continuously tug the entire car and truck market toward better fuel efficiency. The basic idea is elegant in its simplicity: vehicles that are more efficient than average come to the showroom carrying a rebate for their buyers. Those rebates are proportional to the efficiency of the vehicle, so superefficient vehicles come with whopping big rebates.

Conversely, cars and trucks that are less efficient than average, come with a fee-a fee that, as you guessed, grows with the vehicle's inefficiency. Gas guzzlers, therefore, pay big fees. (Still, the fees are unlikely to be as large as the massive, $4,000 rebates car makers have lavished on purchasers of their largest trucks.) The fees pay for the rebates each year, so feebates are self-financing.

So far, Martin's willing to "consider" feebates. This should be something that moves well beyond the idea stage in a hurry - especially when it's already being done elsewhere.

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