Hello Everyone!
Now that I've already discussed how a mileage tax would be implemented, I'd like to deal a little more why some people endorse the idea. You may wonder whether or not a mileage tax would penalize people with more efficient vehicles. Or why we should go to all that trouble when some say that the gas tax would accomplish the same thing.
To start out one has to look at the original intent of the gas tax. It was not introduced as a way to reduce petroleum consumption, but rather as a way to bring in money to maintain the roads and highways. After the fact people began to expect it to serve as an eco-tax, or suggested that increasing the gas tax would encourage more efficient cars and less driving.
In this case perhaps the simplest argument for the mileage tax would involve maintaining the roads as more cars become hybrids, plug in hybrids, electric, natural gas or fuel cell (methanol, zinc, etc) that they would no longer contribute the revenue to building the roads, and that unless an alternative way to collect revenue for driving is found, that it could spell disaster for the condition of the roads and infrastructure funding in general. Some states have been reluctant to promote electric vehicles for exactly that reason.
Trying to argue that a mileage tax would be an eco-tax ends up depending on more sophisticated arguments. Inevitably the first objection to a mileage tax as an eco-tax is that it penalizes people with more efficient vehicles. Washington State has considered dealing with this issue by making the mileage tax a supplement rather than a replacement for the gas tax.
Perhaps the most compelling argument for a mileage tax as a neccesary eco-tax is that more and more efficient cars (environmental impact per mile), will be of limited use if people continue to drive more and more miles every year. And while, an electric or plug in hybrid car would definitely consume less or no gasoline, it is possible that an increased electric demand due to an increasing fleat of electric cars could increase the demand for coal fired plants.
Even electricity produced from power sources such as solar, wind, or hydro-electric can have bring some of their own concerns. For example hydroelectric damns can impact fish habitat. Wind power requires some land use and can be hazardous to bird or bats if designed poorly. Solar thermal plants can consume significant amounts of water, and the manufacture of photovoltaics produces significant amounts of toxic wastes and requires a good deal of energy and water. Furthermore as of now, the majority of photovoltaics manufactured in the US and globally require certain rare metals, which some scientists fear may be facing scarcity in the future. Certainly there are more and more efforts to recycle silicon based PV cells in order to reclaim and reuse some of the metals and to possibly reduce the environmental costs of building new PVs, as well as researcher dye based and organic solar cells which don't require rare metals and are ecologically cheaper to produce. However the fact that electricity was produced from renewables doesn't mean that conservation is no object. Certainly algal fuels are likely to run into issues like water consumption, land use, and possibly water pollution. Solutions like zinc air fuel cells and carbon recycling will always depend on some energy source.
Renewable energies may have less impact on the environmental and consume fewer basic resources than coal fired plants or gasoline, but that doesn't mean that the remaining costs should be dismissed out of hand. Not to mention the fact that cutting down on carbon dioxide emissions from coal fired electric plants, retiring some of the more ecologically destruction hydroelectric dams, and President Obama's plans to update the national electric grid is already creating an immense set of challenges even without adding the following electric demands:
1) A growing fleet of millions of electric, plug in hybrid, and zinc-air fuel cell cars.
2) Several hundred carbon dioxide recycling plants.
3) Several thousand algae farms and biofuel refineries.
4) Possibly all of the above.
Keep in mind that I'm not doubting that these challenges can be met with enough political will. But inevitably the total number of auto miles driven by Americans each year is bound to remain an issue.
I look forward to any comments or feedback on these questions. And.
Say Goodnight Readers!
No comments:
Post a Comment