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THE CYCLE – REDUCE
KICK THE HABIT
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COUNTRIES
The scope for countries to move their people onto sustainable, climate-
friendly travel paths is massive. They can enforce road speed limits, provide
good public transport nationwide, ensure adequate production of biofuels,
or require planners to design cities around walkers and cyclists, avoiding
urban sprawl and its consequences of long commuting distances, and en-
courage mixed neighbourhoods of activity and housing. They can ensure
that private transport pays its true share of the costs of infrastructure by
increasing road and petrol taxes. They can act together to see that inter-
national travel (mainly by air and sea) bears the environmental costs of its
activities, for instance by demanding that aviation fuel is taxed in a way that
gives no country an advantage over others.
The Netherlands, Portugal, and Finland charge different rates for car reg-
istration to encourage buyers to choose the cleanest models. The Dutch
version means the new registration taxes, payable when a car is sold to
its first buyer, can earn the owner of a hybrid a discount up to €6 000
(US$9 400). Austria has had a registration tax based on fuel consump-
tion for several years.
Shelter
Worldwide energy consumption is projected to increase by 54 per cent
from 2001 levels by 2025. The UK’s Energy Saving Trust says over a quar-
ter of all the country’s CO
2
emissions come from individual homes, with
the average household producing six tonnes of CO
2
every year. But £7.5
thousand million (US$14.85 thousand million) worth of the energy used
every year in British households is wasted. Of the electricity used in the
UK, £3 thousand million (US$5.9 thousand million) worth annually goes
on powering consumer electronic and computer products – 30 per cent of
the average household electricity bill.
There are devices which will let you see how much energy your home is us-
ing. So-called “smart meters” available for less than US$100 monitor elec-
tricity supply while providing real-time monetary information about the
household’s energy use. When lights and appliances are turned on, the bat-