Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Thinking Green: It's All About Tradeoffs
This Wall Street Journal article (HT2 Rob Bradley) explains that some of the money you save in fuel from switching to a high-mpg vehicle is offset by higher insurance premiums:
Small cars generally cost more to insure than larger ones because they're involved in more accidents and incur bigger claims, especially for injuries. That's true regardless of the driver profile, though younger and less-experienced drivers tend to buy smaller, cheaper cars.
A 40-year-old male driver would pay an average of $1,704 to insure a 2009 Mini Cooper that gets 37 miles per gallon on the highway, according to a study by Insure.com, an online insurance broker. That same driver would pay only $1,266 -- a difference of $438 -- to insure a Toyota Sienna Minivan, which gets 23 mpg.
Similarly, a Honda Civic compact that gets 36 mpg on the highway costs $412 more a year to insure than a Honda CR-V, a small sport-utility vehicle that gets 27 mpg.
Comments:
Assuming 12k miles a year and $3.00 gas, one would save $360 a year on gas by driving the Civic Compact instead of the CR-V. How many people do you think would pay $52 a year to increase their chances serious bodily harm or death?
Although from the "green" perspective, the best thing anyone could do is die. Dead people don't emit CO2.
Although from the "green" perspective, the best thing anyone could do is die. Dead people don't emit CO2.
Yep. I'm not going to bother digging it up but in the past 6 months Tyler Cowen somberly told his readers that the biggest decision they could make in terms of carbon footprint was how many kids they'd have.
Actually, from the green perspective, the best thing you could do is work to why the hell do I even bother
Don't understand post #3. It is too clever for me.
It must be a fabulous inside joke. Useless.
It must be a fabulous inside joke. Useless.
# posted by 
: November 13, 2008 at 8:36 AM
: November 13, 2008 at 8:36 AM
Decisions are about trade-offs, Bob, though it certainly is interesting that there is presently such a gap in insurance costs.
I expect that the insurance gap will gradually fall along with the percentage of heavier cars/SUVs.
While a personal carbon footprint is not an end all or be all, Austrians certainly have no objections to those having personal preferences in this regard.
Jackson, care to share where you're getting your views on what "greens" think from? My own support is for clearer property rights and less public ownership of resources that can be easily managed in private hands.
Dead people don't emit CO2.
You're wrong, of course, as we are carbon-based life-forms.
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I expect that the insurance gap will gradually fall along with the percentage of heavier cars/SUVs.
While a personal carbon footprint is not an end all or be all, Austrians certainly have no objections to those having personal preferences in this regard.
Jackson, care to share where you're getting your views on what "greens" think from? My own support is for clearer property rights and less public ownership of resources that can be easily managed in private hands.
Dead people don't emit CO2.
You're wrong, of course, as we are carbon-based life-forms.
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