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Ideas to reduce GHG emmissions submitted to CARB |
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In response to the California Air Resources Board solicitation for ideas to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, October 1, 2007 the Drive 55 Conservation Project submitted these three pdf files offering our ideas to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The files are named as follows:
Sept_2007_reduce_GHG.pdf (application/pdf) 88kb
Drive 55 Conservation Project Action Plan.pdf (application/pdf) 121kb
Emissions Impact of Elimination of the National 55 mph Speed Limit.pdf (application/pdf) 101kb
View all the submissions here.
Drive 55 Conservation Project Action Plan
There are three levels of activity contemplated.
Level One is Voluntary modification of driving behavior via a public relations campaign anchored by a recognizable design on bumper stickers for motor vehicles. The stickers serve to make the driver more conscientious while informing other drivers that the vehicle is observing the 55 MPH speed limit.
Supported by a multi media campaign with messaging geared toward benefits of slowing down, the bumper stickers will create community and encourage other drivers to join the trend. Project experience has revealed that it can actually be unnerving and unsafe to drive 55 mph if others are doing 85, therefore safety will be improved by having a way to notify speeders of the drivers intention.
Level Two is Direct Regulation, first legislatively and then by law enforcement. Political will on the part of the legislature, especially by a few key leaders, is required to write new law. CHP must be provided sufficient resources if mandated to step up enforcement, however structured carefully, CHP activities will pay for themselves.
Level Three effort would combine Market Based Compliance with Direct Regulation by including taxing vehicles by horsepower vs. weight and seatbelts, carbon tax on fuels, and pollution tax on wear items such as tires and brakes.
We seek to try the easiest and lowest cost Level One effort first and propose a $1 million dollar budget to roll out an initial campaign. The budget would provide 10% for management, 40% for bumper stickers printing & distribution, and 30% for a multi media ad campaign with a 20% contingency fund.
To measure the effectiveness of the campaign will require a separate statistical analysis of historical data. Since it is a purely voluntary program it would be very difficult to quantify and is therefore outside the scope of a Level One effort. Levels Two and Three would provide useful data that could be analyzed to quantify benefits but also require more extensive planning that will be better accomplished after a level one effort has been implemented.
Cost Effectiveness Calculation and Assumptions
To calculate the cost effectiveness of the Voluntary campaign one simple approach would be to budget $1 million each year until 2020 for the campaign for a total project cost of $12 million.
Using the 2004 baseline Road Transportation Emissions figure of 166.747 MMT CO2E and data from the EPA memo annual reductions could be as high as 20.7%, and even if the reduction turns out to be only 1% that would still be an impressive 1.7 MMT per year for a total reduction of 20.4 MMT by 2020. $12 million divided by 20 MMT works out to about $600,000 per MMT.
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Speaking at a climate change conference in Miami, California Governor Arnold Scwarzenegger said drivers can do a lot to cut fuel costs by driving slower.
"Who can cut (costs) down is you, you, you and you," Schwarzenegger
said. "You can cut it down. Take your car, for instance. Go and get the
perfect tire pressure. Tune up your engine. Drive slower." He went on to say "energy prices are not going to go back to the good
old days" and it is "bogus" for politicians to promise otherwise."
"Politicians have been throwing around all kinds
of ideas in response to the skyrocketing energy prices, from the
rethinking of nuclear power to pushing biofuels and more renewables and
ending the ban on offshore drilling," Schwarzenegger said. "But anyone
who tells you this would bring down gas prices any time soon is blowing
smoke. I think that people should really be in charge of their
own destiny and how much they want to pay for fuel, not wait for the
politicians," he said.
The Drive 55 Conservation Project is delighted with the Governor's message and hand delivered a Thank You letter with Drive 55 bumper stickers to his office in Sacramento today. Leadership in the legislature also got a letter and some Drive 55 bumper stickers hand delivered to their offices in the Capital, inviting them to 'Lead by example'.
Quote sources:
Sacramento BEE
http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/1042081.html
LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/
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