Wednesday, November 29, 2000

Sins of Emission Why is the United States such a big emitter? Energy use tends to be more or less proportional to gross
domestic product, and we have the biggest economy. But that's not the whole story: We release about twice
as much carbon dioxide per capita as other advanced countries, even though we don't have anywhere near
twice their per capita G.D.P. The main reason for that disparity is that we have much lower taxes on fuel,
especially gasoline. The image of the American filling up his living room on wheels with dollar-a-gallon
gasoline while his European counterpart carefully spoons precious petrol into his mini is a caricature, but gets
at an essential truth.

This comparison suggests that it should actually be much easier for the United States to reduce its energy
consumption and carbon dioxide emissions than it is for Europe. High taxes on fuel have already induced
Europeans to do the easy conservation steps; in America, where gasoline is literally cheaper than (bottled)
water, we haven't even tried.

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