Hidden Car Subsidy

Unfortunately the UK Government's Extension and Broadening of their “Cash for Clunkers” Program
is a hidden subsidy that stimulates the production of more cars, and therefore more emissions. We need less cars to reduce emissions significantly. The new cars may have better carbon footprint technology, but that's still only a small step in the right direction. We need less cars and much less kilometres.

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The more I hear and read about the #1010 campaign the more I like it.

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Aviation Industry Solution

The solution is simple. These are the principles:
1. Fast is not sustainable.
2. Get the price right, so that sustainable technologies can compete fairly.

Let's look at some basic facts:
1.1 Aircraft that are lighter than air (E.g. Airships, blimps) don't need speed to stay airbourne. (Please don't let anyone tell you that they are still as dangerous as the Hindenburg - technology has improved and Helium is not flamable).
1.2 Energy = 1/2 mv^2 i.e. Energy consumption increases by the square of the speed, in other words more speed means much, much more energy.
1.3 Engines using propellers can run on agro/biofuels like ethanol, whereas jet engines can only run on a small fractions of hydro-cracked biofuel that meets the kerosine molecule's specifications.
1.4 Ethanol can be produced from sustainably grown feedstocks BUT they need to be rationed (there is NOT enough arable land to grow all our food and fuel demands). Making this rationing decision needs to be fair for low/no income people (climate justice applies here too).

2.1 The PLANET is more important than PROFIT.
2.2 Aviation prices should be based on passenger miles per kg of carbon, they should be standardised, and they should be inflated to cross subsidise a. less carbon intensive forms of transport and b. other low carbon development projects.
2.3 Alternative forms of transport with lower carbon emission performance should be cheaper than flying.

This implies that business executives won't be able to get from London to New York in six hours but I have a message for them: Use the ITC technology you have at your disposal more effectively, plan better in advance so that you can do a longer more sustainable trip and stop flying jets that burn kerosine/jet fuel!

Oops, did I forget about vested interests? What does the aviation industry do with all those jets? Well maybe the government needs to think about bailing them out too, just like the banks. And while we're at it why don't we look at all other forms of transport, and all of the power stations too. Let's start employing people to do the right thing instead of protecting a way of business that is doing more harm than good. Maybe the entire world's high carbon unsustainable economy needs to be bailed out.