Monday, October 10, 2011

Putting a Value on Sustainable Transportation

The power and value of green in promoting sustainable transport behavior ( 11 page pdf, David Gaker, David Vautin1, Akshay Vij and Joan L Walker, Environ. Res. Lett., Jul. 26, 2011)

The article reviewed today looks at what value is put on positive actions or decisions taken concerning sustainable transportation options such as in buying a car, whether to drive or take transit to work, and the choice of route taken. The results indicate that a value of up to 70 cents (median 15 cents) for each pound of CO2 emissions saved.



Key Quotes:

“direct emissions from motor vehicles are the largest contributor to total household emissions.. and passenger transport is responsible for approximately 20% of greenhouse gas emissions in the US and as high as 40% in California”

“three primary experiments: an auto ownership question of whether to buy a car (and what type), a mode choice question of whether to use the car or some other mode on a given trip, and a route choice question regarding which route to take on a specific auto trip”

“our subjects are willing to adjust their behavior to reduce emissions, exhibiting an average willingness to pay for emissions reduction, or value of green (VoG), of 15 cents per pound of CO2 saved”

“most of the respondents valuing green somewhere between 0 and 70 cents per pound and with women, on average, willing to pay 7 cents more per saved pound than men”
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