8/19/2009 Cash for Clunkers: A Terribly Wasteful Thing


Climate change experts began studying the actual effects of cash for clunkers in the battle against global warming, and the numbers don't look promising. Cash for Clunkers, which began as a "green economy" stimulus bill, has been seen by some to have very little, if any, benefit to the environment.

"As a carbon dioxide policy, this is a terribly wasteful thing to do," said Henry Jacoby, a co-director of the Joint Program on Science and Policy of Climate Change at MIT. "The amount of carbon you are saving per federal expenditure is very, very small." Currently, the program has saved the country the equivalent of just one hour of carbon production. If Congress agrees to a multi-billion dollar extension, the carbon savings will approach three hours.

The Associated Press, with figures provided by the department of transportation, discovered that the use of fuel efficient vehicles will save America about 700,000 tons of carbon emissions per year, which is about what our country pollutes in 57 minutes. In addition, America will burn about 4½ hours less gasoline per year, which many consider to be laughable considering that the cash for clunkers program costs over a billion dollars in public funds after just one week.

Opponents of the cash for clunkers program come primarily from auto-recyclers, the auto repair industry, and car enthusiasts. Because of the shortage of funds, dealers have been rushing their cars to the crusher and bypassing typical contracts with auto recyclers entirely, as they cannot submit paperwork to "get in line" for the dwindling government reimbursement money until the car is in the hands of the crushers. Auto recyclers who are still managing to get contracts are complaining that the engine, the most valuable part of the car, is being violently destroyed (as required), leaving them with a husk of little value, especially considering the expensive "detox" cleaning the salvage yards are mandated to pay for prior to stripping a cash for clunkers trade-in.

Michael Gerrard, director of Columbia Law School's Center for Climate Change Law stated that the cash for clunker's program is not a cost-effective way to reduce fuel consumption or vehicle emissions, and that energy savings were negligible even ignoring the costs of recycling a vehicle, as the creation of a new car far exceeds the inefficiency of an older one in the realm of energy consumption.


Full story