Financial Incentives to Reduce Total Driving, Flying and Home…

    Financial Incentives to Reduce Total Driving, Flying and Home Energy Use

                                            By

                                   Michael T. Neuman

                                         May 2000


Summary

Increasing fossil fuel combustion for automobile driving, airplane travel and energizing
homes will cause additional increases in the rate of global warming in the future.
Additional adverse effects from increases in these activities include: traffic congestion
(highway and air/airport traffic) added air pollution, and additional costs of building and
expanding highways, airports and power plants and facilities on Wisconsin's landscape.

Offering people financial incentives (cash) to reduce (or keep low) the miles they travel
on highways and in airplanes, and the amount of energy (from fossil fuel burning) that
they use up in their homes, could greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from these
three sources on a yearly basis.

This paper provides the framework for offering positive voluntary financial incentives for
reducing automobile driving, airplane travel, and annual home energy use by Wisconsin
residents.

The source of funding for the financial incentives for reduced driving and flying would
be the savings in user fee revenue generated by not having to build the additional
highway and airport capacity expansion projects. The source of funding for the
residential sector financial incentives would be the savings in utility revenues generated
by not having to build more power generation, storage or energy transmission facilities.

This paper places an emphasis on reducing greenhouse gas emission through energy
conservation from Wisconsin sources; however, the methodology provided here could
also be applied elsewhere in the United States or other countries.

The author's conclusions and urgent call for immediate governmental action, at all
levels, are found on pages 9-12.
                                                                                                                   2




      Financial Incentives to Reduce Total Driving, Flying and Home Energy Use


"Human survival through millenniums of natural hazards is not evidence of ability to
survive unprecedented man-made ecological disasters in the future."

                                               (Lyton Keith Caldwell, 1971)

Transportation

Increases in Automobile Driving in Wisconsin and U.S.

The population of the State of Wisconsin increased from 4.4 million in 1970 to 5.2
million in 1998, an 18% increase (Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, 1999). The
number of vehicle miles traveled (VMT1) on Wisconsin highways increased from 21.9
billion VMT in 1970 to 50.4 billion VMT 1998, a 132% increase. (Wisconsin
Department of Transportation (DOT), 1999) (Table 1).

The average family of 4 in Wisconsin traveled 19,880 miles in 19702. In 1998, they
traveled 39,000 total miles, a 96% increase.

The per capita vehicle mileage Wisconsin residents traveled in1980 (including children
and adults choosing not to drive) was 6,358 miles per capita. By 1998, this had increased
to 9,680 miles per capita (excluding heavy trucks). Result: the average Wisconsin
resident travels 52 percent more miles in a vehicle than the average Wisconsin resident
traveled by auto in 1980.

The total VMT traveled in the U.S., excluding miles counted for heavy truck and bus
travel, is estimated to be 3.8 trillion miles per year3 (U.S. Department of Transportation
(1997).

Costs of Providing for Increased Automobile Driving in Wisconsin

In 1999, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation proposed a plan to provide for the
projected motor vehicle driving needs in Wisconsin through 2020 called Wisconsin State
Highway Plan 2020 (WisDOT, 1999). The plan recommends $20 billion be spent on new
state highway construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation and maintenance through 2020.
The plan proposes approximately one third of the $20 ($7.3 billion) be used for new
highway capacity expansion projects, for the purpose of accommodating increased
driving by Wisconsin residents.

1
  Excludes large, heavy, commercial type trucks.
2
  Average calculated using Wis. DOT records for VMT in Wisconsin and Wisconsin population figures
printed in Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau (1999).
3
  Total is composed of 2.39 trillion car miles; 1.39 trillion sport utility vehicle miles; 12 billion motorcycle
miles. Excludes 191.3 billion truck miles; and 144.9 billion bus miles.
                                                                                                           3




The cost of the plan is to be paid by users of the state and local highway system through
fuel taxes and annual vehicle license fees.

The $7.3 billion is the monetary cost of building the new highway capacity expansion
projects. It does not cover the cost of maintaining those new highways, nor does it cover
the non-monetary "environmental cost" of building the new highways. The
environmental cost of new highway development can be substantial.

New highway building generally creates a direct environmental cost as highway corridors
often must be built through farmland, wildlife habitat, wetlands and other valuable
natural and productive landscape. Indirect costs from improving travel on the highway
are many and diffuse. They include: more air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions
(from increased auto emissions); more vehicle travel noise, roadkills and possibly more
human injuries and fatalities (because of increasing traffic levels), and, of course, more
urban sprawl development.

Urban sprawl development is really nothing more than misplaced urban development. It
is facilitated by improved highways because the added auto accessibility the improved
highways provide makes longer auto commutes simpler, safer, and, of course, quicker.

 Improved highways make it easier and safer for people to live outside of cities, yet retain
reasonable access to the amenities and the services that cities traditionally provide (jobs,
entertainment, shopping, etc.). In essence, improved highways enable commuters to take
advantage of the city's benefits, regardless of whether they reside or pay property taxes in
the city, and irrespective of the environmental costs their automobile driving has on
others in the afflicted communities along the way, or the Earth's environment in general.

Fueling the 3.8 trillion vehicle (exc. truck) miles traveled in the U.S. annually requires
the annual combustion of 176.7 billion gallons of gasoline or diesel fuel. In the process
of burning up this quantity of fuel in automobiles (inc. minivans and SUV's), Americans
are responsible for the production and release of 1.54 billion tons of the carbon dioxide
greenhouse gas to the Earth's atmosphere each year4.

The quantity of carbon dioxide emitted to the atmosphere by automobiles traveling in
Wisconsin was 17.6 million tons5 in 1970 (Table 2). In 1998, it was 26.0 million tons,
an increase of 47%. For the foreseeable future, it will continue to increase with
increasing levels of traffic.

The increased use and expansion of Wisconsin's highway system through 2020, as
approved by the Wisconsin DOT, will increase the quantity of greenhouse gas emitted to
4
  Uses average efficiency of 21.5 vehicle miles traveled per gallon of fuel in U.S. (avg. for 1997, reported
by Wisconsin Energy Bureau (1999)). This number is probably an underestimate, since the average of 21.5
mpg is derived from autos only, not minivans, pickups or sport utility vehicles, which generally are less
efficient than traditionally purchased 2 and 4-door automobiles.
5
  Burning 1 gallon of gasoline or diesel fuel in an automobile contributes 22 pounds of CO2 to the
atmosphere; the CO2 remains in the atmosphere up to 120 years (or more).
                                                                                           4


the atmosphere even more, since it removes impediments to driving more miles on the
highway system. This method of addressing travel "needs" (building in more highway
capacity) has traditionally been the most popular approach to dealing with increasing
traffic problems in the United States (and elsewhere). But it clearly has come at
considerable economic, social and environmental cost.

 In contrast, providing incentives to bring about reductions in automobile travel would
reduce traffic levels (estimated by up to 25%), negating the need to build more highway
infrastructure, and reducing the environmental and social costs of continuously increasing
automobile and SUV driving throughout the state.

Financial Incentives for Reducing Vehicle Miles Traveled in Wisconsin

Rather than spend $7.3 billion on highway capacity expansion over the next 20 years, the
State of Wisconsin could establish a program that provides financial incentives to
Wisconsin households who voluntarily limit their motor vehicle travel in a year. The
source of funding for the financial incentives program would be the portion of the gas
taxes and annual vehicle license fees that would have otherwise been paid for the $7.3
billion worth of new highways. Since the projected number of vehicles operating on the
highway system will have been reduced by less driving, the need for building more
capacity into the highway system will have been effectively eliminated, making it
possible to return those funds to the public.

Following is an example of how the VMT reduction plan would work:

A family of four with two drivers voluntarily enrolls in the program by driving its car(s)
into the local Department of Motor Vehicles office, paying $30 in administrative fees,
and getting the mileage on their vehicle's odometer(s) officially recorded. Alternatively,
DOT offices could be staffed with employees or volunteers who would travel to
neighborhoods to officially record the participating households' vehicle(s) odometer
mileage. [Technology also is now available, patented through the auto insurance industry,
that enables vehicle mileage of many vehicles to be monitored, and recorded, from a
central location. This would eliminate the need for manual checking of vehicle
odometers.]

After a year goes by, (based on participant's day of choice), the participant(s) would
receive a $400 check if the participant's odometer(s) showed less than 13,500 miles for
the preceding year (Table 3). If the family participant managed to lower the household
vehicle mileage traveled to 9,000 miles over the year, they would earn $1,200.

The fewer miles the family drives in a year, the more money it can earn as a reward for
"driving less" for that year. Households not owning or driving personally registered cars
would be eligible to receive a maximum of $2,800 for that year, as a payment, (or
reward), for not contributing to the financial, social, or environmental costs of automobile
driving borne by everybody.
                                                                                             5




Methodology for Calculating Financial Incentives for Reducing Total VMT

The methodology used for computing the financial incentives for low annual VMT is as
follows:

Total Household Mileage Threshold/Year

               = x + Dx + Px

       Where x = 1,000 (1...6) household vehicle(s) miles;
              D = Number of Additional Drivers (.75)
              P = Number of Passengers (.25)

A 25% reduction in vehicular travel is postulated with full implementation of the plan, at
a cost of $810 million a year. Using an average reward of $400 for each Wisconsin
household each year: $400 X 2,026,000 HH (Wisconsin Bureau of Energy, 1999) =
$810,400,000.

After 10 years of awarding the financial incentives, the program could be ended, since the
behavioral change resulting in reduced driving will have become permanent, eliminating
the need to continue offering the incentives.

By offering financial incentives to households who record low annual motor vehicle
miles traveled in a year, this transportation alternative would encourage people to make
more informed choices about where to live relative to where they need to travel. When
they do need to travel, the financial incentives will encourage them to choose more
environmentally friendly means of travel (bicycling, walking, taking a bus, carpooling),
over driving environmentally harmful and greenhouse gas emitting automobiles. Table 4
lists other ways to reduce vehicular travel on public highways. Table 5 provides the
corresponding modal energy efficiencies relative to automobile transportation.

Increases in Air Travel

At an international aviation conference held recently in Chicago, United Airlines chief
James Goodwin was reported (Associated Press, 1999) as saying the projected increases
in air traffic in the U.S. are "frightening", and that "the skies are crowded and getting
more so every day". According to the report, Goodwin warned, "the global skies are
teeming with so many planes that the entire airline industry is near crisis".

The U.S. DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics' data shows U.S. emplanements
(passengers boarding an aircraft) on scheduled domestic flights increased from 297
million emplanements, in 1980, to 634 million in 1999 (a 114 percent increase). The
U.S. Census Bureau reports the U.S. population increased 21 percent from 1980-1999,
from 226 million to 274 million; therefore, the effective airline emplanement increase,
exclusive of the increase in population from 1980 to 1999, was 93%. This means the
                                                                                             6


average U.S. citizen today flies twice as many times in a year as the average U.S. citizen
did in 1980.

The U.S. commercial airline industry burned 10.7 billion gallons of fuel in domestic and
international operations in 1979 (@ $.58/gal). By 1999, the industry burned 19.6 billion
gallons (@$.53/gal), an increase of 83 percent over the amount of fuel burned in 1979.
The effective increase in gallons of fuel burned in airlines from 1979 to 1999 was 62
percent.

In servicing the increasing number Americans who chose to travel by airplane in 1999,
American airplanes discharged 215.6 million tons of carbon dioxide to the Earth's
atmosphere.


Methodology for Calculating Financial Incentives for Reducing AMT

The methodology used for computing the financial incentives for low annual airplane
miles traveled (AMT) is as follows:

Airplane Mileage Threshold/Year/Person

               =y

        Where y = 100 (1...6) miles flown in an airplane

A schedule for providing financial incentives for encouraging U.S. citizens to fly less is
provided in Table 6.

The reward threshold is not increased for families having more than 5 persons.

No exclusions would be allowed for business trip mileage. This would provide added
incentives for business to minimize employee air travel requirements.

Funding for AVT Reduction Incentives

Some of the money to fund the financial incentives would be available from the money
saved by not having to build additional airport runways, taxiways, terminals, and to
employ additional airport personal to service the otherwise projected increases in the
number of flights. Environmental savings would result from reduced greenhouse gas
emissions, reduced air pollution, reduced noise, less air traffic congestion, and less
wildlife habitat and farmland loses from airport expansion projects.
                                                                                              7


Residential Energy Use

Financial Incentives for Encouraging Household Energy Conservation

To produce electricity for Wisconsin's energy consuming customers, Wisconsin's 17
coal-fired power plants injected 50.4 million tons of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide
into the Earth's atmosphere in 1997 (Shindell, 2000). [All that gas is still up there yet, of
course, and will be there for at least another 117 years.] Fossil fuel burning power plants
operating in Wisconsin in 1997 also emitted 231,890 tons of sulfur dioxide and 114,052
tons of nitrogen oxides that form smog. (See Appendix B for environmental and health
costs of smog.) The 50.4 million tons of CO2 Wisconsin's power plants released to the
Earth's atmosphere (1997) is about double the 26 million tons of CO2 emitted to the
Earth's atmosphere by automobiles operating in Wisconsin on an annual basis. Both
quantities have undoubtedly increased since 1997 in Wisconsin, as have CO2 quantities
discharged to the atmosphere throughout the world.

As undeveloped countries continue to develop, greenhouse gas volumes sent to the
Earth's atmosphere will skyrocket. According to the Electric Power Research Institute,
the global demand for electric power over the next half-century will reach three times the
world's current capacity. The institute predicts that fossil fuels "will almost surely
account for the bulk of our electricity supply", and "this will require that a new 1,000-
megawatt coal burning plant be brought into service somewhere in the world every two to
three days" during the next 50 years (Wampler, 2000).

For example, Alliant Energy Corporation's Erroll Davis said at the company's annual
stockholder's meeting (Newman, 2000) that "the energy market is too slow-growing (in
the U.S.), so Alliant Energy Corp. plans to pump a lot more money into foreign
investments in China and possibly South America. With the theme "We're on our way",
Alliant will buy a stake in two more small power plants in China this year ­ for a total of
six ­ and is considering investments in Argentina and Venezuela. The company also has
investments in New Zealand, Australia, Mexico and Brazil.

Just as positive incentives can be used to encourage reduced fossil fuel burning
dependent automobile and airplane travel, so too can positive financial incentives
encourage reduced energy use in homes in the U.S.. Utilities could offer financial
incentives to encourage people to use less energy in heating, cooling and lighting their
homes, and for minimizing uses of other forms of electricity in their daily lives. This
would reduce cumulative power demands, reducing the need to build more power plants,
transmission lines, fuel lines and other expenditures and environmental costs associated
with increased capacity demands.

Depending on the amount of the reductions, significant cutbacks in global greenhouse gas
emissions might be possible from power plants that burn fossil fuel for electricity, or
from other utilities that distribute fuel and natural gas for direct burning in household
furnaces.
                                                                                           8


Wisconsin's per capita (per individual) resource energy consumption in homes in 1998
was 404 therms (Table 7). A 4-person household in Wisconsin uses, on average, 1,600
therms of energy in the home for heating and electrical conveniences (4 X 400 therms).

Financial incentives for encouraging energy conservation in homes would work similar to
the systems used for encouraging people to reduce their driving and flying. That is,
households using low per family size annual energy amounts could be eligible to receive
monetary returns at the end of the year for conserving energy (Table 8).



Methodology for Calculating Financial Incentives for Reducing Total Energy Use

The methodology used for computing the incentives for low energy use is as follows:


Total Household Energy Use Threshold/Year

                      = z + Rz

       Where z = 100 (1...6) therms

                      R = Number of Additional Residents X .25

No additional credit is provided for more than 5 person residing in the household.

The money to fund the financial incentives would be available from the money saved by
not having to build additional power plants, transmission lines and power stations in the
future, because of the reduced energy demands. Additional non-monetary environmental
savings would result from reduced greenhouse gas emissions, reduced air pollution, less
wildlife habitat and farmland loss from building more power plants and transmission
lines in those areas, and reduced discharges of excess cooling water since less cooling
water would be needed for reduced energy generation.

As an additional funding source, a "transportation tax" might be considered for
enactment, which would serve as an incentive to produce or assemble products closer to
the place at which they will eventually be purchased. This would help minimize the
energy used in shipping products by truck, planes and trains. A per unit tax (based on a
per mile cost, times the weight and volume of the item) might be levied on all materials
and products delivered more than 50 miles (one way), by rail, air or truck. The revenues
accumulating from these sources could be made available to the programs funding the
financial incentives for reduced driving, flying and home energy use.
                                                                                              9




Conclusion

Major new highway, airport and power plant investments require billions of public
dollars to build, their construction causes major and significant environmental disruption,
and their end uses create significant air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and other
adverse environmental consequences. Government has the responsibility to protect and
uphold the general welfare of its citizenry. Ensuring positive financial incentives are
provided to the public, to discourage overuse of highways, air space and energy
resources, and to thereby reduce the need to build new highways, airports and power
generating infrastructure, is an appropriate and worthwhile function of government.

Continuing to burn of vast quantities of fossil fuels (coal, oil, gasoline) on Earth for
energy is now known to be increasing average global temperatures due to the greenhouse
effect. Studies now show Earth's air, land and water temperatures to be rising, at rates
some scientists say are alarming, greatly exceeding the more conservative predictions
made only a few years ago.

In fact, many scientists throughout the world now say it is urgent that worldwide actions
be undertaken, immediately, to curb, and reduce (some say by 80%!), the increasing
quantities of greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, many scientists now concede the
potential for worldwide cataclysmic calamity related to global warming could
conceivably occur, not just in eons, but perhaps in centuries and perhaps even decades!

To this call for urgency, the global warming "skeptics" continue to demand proof.
Before the skeptics (who's numbers are dwindling rapidly) agree to the need for fossil
fuel burning reductions, they want to see proof that global warming is in fact occurring,
that fossil fuel burning is the main cause of it, and that the costs of global warming
exceed its societal benefits.

In his recent book: Venus Revealed: A New Look Below the Clouds of Our Mysterious
Twin Planet, David Grinspoon (1997) had this to say regarding the need for more proof
of the occurrence, cause and importance of controlling CO2 emissions, and other
greenhouse gas emission's, to the Earth's atmosphere:

"But we are increasing the CO2 content of the atmosphere, and this will warm Earth, so
we should cut it out. Waiting for "definite" data on global warming is like jumping off a
cliff to see how high it is. If we are that dumb it could easily be used as grounds to deny
us membership in the Galactic Union of Intelligent Species" (pg. 152, footnote).

Scientists claim the buffering characteristics of Earth's natural resources (cool oceans and
permafrost store carbon), which have historically kept Earth's atmospheric gases in
                                                                                                           10


check, could ultimately change significantly by global warming6, increasing the potential
for a "runaway greenhouse effect" to occur on Earth.

If a runaway greenhouse effect got started on Earth, Earth's surface temperatures could
increase dramatically. Grinspoon speculates this could have been what happened to
Earth's twin planet, Venus, which now has an average surface temperature of 864
degrees, Fahrenheit (water boils at 212 degrees F.; steak broils at 550 degrees F.).

Grinspoon claims the temperature on Venus is much higher than it should be, relative to
the planet's mass and distance from the Sun, and that the reason for this hotness is that
Venus experienced a runaway greenhouse effect early in its existence7:

"That brings us to the question of water. Evolutionary models suggest that if Venus
started out with an ocean of water, it could have been lost early in the planet's history by
a "runaway greenhouse effect". Water vapor is a powerful infrared absorber. A little
water in the air can heat things up a lot. But in the presence of liquid water, if the air gets
hotter, more water will evaporate. This creates the possibility of a powerful positive
feedback loop: evaporating water increases the greenhouse effect, making the atmosphere
so hot that more water evaporates, and so on. Any physical system like that, dominated
by positive feedback, is inherently unstable. Once it gets going, there is no stopping it.
Venus may have had oceans that simply boiled away, leaving large amounts of water
vapor high in the atmosphere where solar ultraviolet radiation split up the molecules,
allowing the hydrogen to escape into space" (pg. 149)8.

A Call for Action

When it comes to the long-term sustainability of our planet, it's much better to be
conservatively safe, than deeply sorry. Being "deeply sorry", when Earth's populous
might have done something to change a final negative outcome is not only being
insincere, but even worse: unconcerned and callous.



6
  Recent studies (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2000) show the Earth's ocean and
permafrost temperatures are already on the rise.
7
  Venus's mass is 81.4 % of Earth's mass; it is 28% closer to the Sun than Earth is: Venus: 67 million
miles from the Sun; Earth: 93 million miles from the Sun.
8
  Grinspoon goes on to say that, assuming Venus did have an ocean, and that the ocean later evaporated,
then that might explain the very high CO2 content of Venus's atmosphere (Venus's atmospheric CO2
content is 96.5 percent), relative to the atmospheric CO2 content on Earth. He says: "On Earth, water
dissolves CO2 from the atmosphere and turns it into carbonate rocks, a process known as "weathering". If
our water disappeared, CO2 would build up in the atmosphere ... It seems plausible, then, that two initially
similar planets at the distances from the Sun of Venus and Earth could have ended up with a dry CO2-
dominated atmosphere and an ocean, respectively." Grinspoon suggests it could be "just a lucky
coincidence" that Earth's climate evolved in such a way as to maintain abundant liquid water and a
comfortable environment for life. The story becomes even more complicated, and perhaps even more
threatening, if one considers the fact that the Sun has actually become brighter and hotter over time
(making the Sun's intensity on Earth now more similar to what the Sun's energy intensity was on Venus,
billions of years ago). [See Grinspoon (1997) pgs. 152 ­ 153 and "twin studies", pgs. 195-199.]
                                                                                            11


Necessity now demands everyone accept responsibility for making energy conserving
sacrifices, right away. Greenhouse gases accumulate in the Earth's atmosphere, over
time. Therefore, they remain in the Earth's atmosphere long after the time of their
release, warming the planet for those who had nothing to do with their release.

Due to recent (since mid 19th century) and ever increasing reliance on fossil fuel burning
by humans, the Earth's atmosphere has become more saturated with carbon dioxide and
other greenhouse gases. The concentration of CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere has gone
from a preindustrial level of 280 parts per million (ppm) to a present day level of 365
ppm+ (and increase of 30%+ over preindustrial levels). The current concentration level
of CO2 in the atmosphere is already outside the bounds of natural variability seen in the
climate record of the last 160,000 years. "If the world proceeds on a "business as usual"
path, atmospheric CO2 concentrations will likely become more than 700 ppm (an
increase of 150% over preindustrial levels) by 2100, and they will still be rising."
(Executive Office of the President, 1997).

The balance between the Earth's greenhouse and non-greenhouse gas concentrations has
clearly been thrown out of kilter in the last 150 years. This imbalance is likely to grow
significantly larger over time. Even in the very unlikely event that increases in
greenhouse gas emissions from human activity cease, the concentration levels of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will continue to increase, since there remains no
other place for them to go.

Scientists the world over are now claiming, with serious overtones, that major and
significant worldwide action must be initiated, now, to reduce the volumes of greenhouse
gases being injected into the Earth's atmosphere. To do so will require a dramatic and
abrupt change in humankind reliance on fossil fuel burning.

To be unresponsive to the now almost unanimous scientific community call for
immediate (not 15 years from now), and drastic (not just slowing the rate of increase) is
not prudent. For the world's population to dramatically increase fossil fuel burning and
greenhouse gas emissions, with minimal attempts being made to conserve energy in
travel, recreational and home energy use, is tantamount to global genocide.

Without question, the time is now already overripe to drastically cut energy use in homes,
cars, planes, trains and trucks. This paper offers an approach to accomplish that, devoid
of applying regulatory controls over people's everyday lives, and devoid of calling for
large increases fuel or gasoline taxes.

In conclusion, I recommend my governmental representatives to, without delay, adopt
these measures, which I believe will encourage widespread reductions in energy use in
transportation, residential, and hopefully other nonessential energy using activities as
well. I strongly believe that any governmental action to delay, or to not adopt these
measures, or similar "immediately acting" energy conservation measures, is unwise,
especially now that the phenomenon of global warming is known to be real, and known
to be accelerating.
                                                                                       12


Closing

"For all practical purposes, there is today only one world suitable for man. Measured by
nature's standards rather than by those of historical man, it is at present a delicately
balanced, highly perishable world that has evolved over long geologic epochs of
environmental change. And man, acting as if he owned this world, or at least had come
into leasehold possession of it, has played his role as lessee very indifferently..."

                                                    (Caldwell, 1971)
                                                                                              13




Acknowledgments

To Patrick J. Neuman (related - brother), who provided valuable feedback, insight and
encouragement during the many stages of this paper's development.

To Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), who saw what needed to be corrected in
American society during his time, and then dedicated the remainder of his life and
energies to help correct the situation.

To Correta King, for making sure Dr. King's autobiography was published.

To Kenneth Boulding, for his essay on the importance of minimizing consumption; and
to Lyton Caldwell, for writing about Earth's fragility.

To Professor Hugh Iltis, for his long-standing call for all humans, everywhere, to make
sure we take care of Earth, and its abundant - but still limited - resources, because Earth
can't be easily repaired, or replaced, if something really bad happens to it.
                                                                                         14




References

Associated Press, December 7, 1999, "Airline Head Warns of Crowded Skies".

Boulding, Kenneth E., 1968, Beyond Economics: Essays on Society, Religion and Ethics,
The University of Michigan Press.

Boulding, Kenneth E., 1971, "The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth", an essay
in Problems of the Modern Economy: Pollution, Resources, and the Environment, edited
by Alain C. Enthoven and A. Myrick Freeman III, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc..

Caldwell, Lyton, Keith, 1971, Environment: A Challenge to Modern Society, Chapter 4,
Anchor Books Doubleday & Company, Garden City, New York.

Executive Office of the President, 1997, Climate Change: State of Knowledge, Office of
Science and Technology Policy.

Gumbu, Phinjo, March 18, 2000, "Smog Kills 1,000 Annually in Toronto, Study Shows,
Toronto Star newspaper.

Grinspoon, David Harry, 1997, Venus Revealed: A New Look Below the Clouds of our
Mysterious Twin Planet, Helix Books, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc..

Iltis, Hugh, Wisconsin Public Radio Interview with Tom Clark, April 22, 2000.

King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1998, The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr., edited by
Clayborne Carsen, Intellectual Properties Management, Inc., in association with Warner
Books.

McCullough, Jennifer, December, 1999, YES! A Journal of Positive Futures, "Are You
Kyoto Cool?.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2000, finding of NOAA scientists
reported by H. Josef Herbert, Associated Press, in Wisconsin State Journal,
March 24, 2000, pg. 6A.

Newman, Judy, May 18, 2000, "Alliant Reflects on a Positive Year with Eyes to a Global
Goal", Wisconsin State Journal.

Shindell, Shindel, (2000), in Wisconsin State Journal, May 22, 2000, Section 11A.

Wampler, Allen, J., (2000), in Wisconsin State Journal, May 22, 2000, Section 11A.

U. S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 1999 and 1997
Washington D.C..
                                                                                    15




Wisconsin Department of Transportation, 1999, Wisconsin State Highway Plan 2020.

Wisconsin Energy Bureau, 1999, Wisconsin Energy Statistics.

Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, 1999, 1999-2000 Blue Book.

Schipper, Lee; Steiner, Ruth; Meyers, Stephen, 1993, Transportation and Global Climate
Change, American Council for An Energy-Efficient Economy, Washington D.C..
                                                                                                    16


                                         Appendix A: Tables

Table 1. Wisconsin Population and VMT in 1998 in Comparison to Population and VMT
in 1970.

Year                Population        VMT (Billions)        VMT per Person          VMT per Family
                    (Millions)                                                      of 4
1970                4.4               21.87                 4,970                   19,880
1998                5.2               50.4                  9,692                   38,976
Difference          .8                28.5                  4,722                   19,096
Increase            18%               130%                  95%                     95%

Population Source: Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, State of Wisconsin 1999-
2000 Blue Book, 1999.

VMT = Vehicle Mileage Traveled. Source: Wisconsin Department of Transportation,
personnel communication, 1999.




Table 2. Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Emissions from Personal Automobiles in 1998 in
Wisconsin Compared to CO2 Emissions from Personal Automobiles in Wisconsin in
1970.

Year                   VMT (Billions)         Average Miles       Gallons of           CO2 Emissions
                       (Exc. Heavy            Per Gallon of       Gasoline             (Millions of
                       Trucks)                Gasoline1           (Billions)           Tons)2
1970                   21.87                  13.6                1.61                 17.7
1998                   50.4                   21.5                2.34                 25.7
Difference              28.8                   7.9                 .73                 8.0
Increase               132%                   46%                 45%                  45%




1
    Source: Wisconsin Energy Bureau, Feb. 2000 (Wisconsin Energy Bureau, 2000).
2
    Each gallon of gas combusted in an automobile contributes 22 pounds of CO2 to the atmosphere.
                                                                                         17


Table 3. Financial Incentives for Typical Wisconsin Households Based on Recorded
Vehicle Miles Traveled Over a 1-year Period

                               Financial Incentives (Annual Rewards)
                              $400                   $1,200          $2,000
Household Size         Total Annual Miles Total Annual Miles Total Annual Miles
1 person                       6,000                  4,000           2,000
2 people, one drives           7,500                  5,000           2,500
3 people, one drives           9,000                  6,000           3,000
2 people, both drive          10,500                  8,750           3,500
3 people, 2 drive             12,000                  8,000           4,000
4 people, 2 drive             13,500                  9,000           4,500
5 people, 2 drive             15,000                 10,000           5,000

·= Payment awarded based on a maximum of 5 persons per household.
·= Person must be 18 years old to receive payment and identified "head of household".
·= No extra mileage credit allocated for vacations, out of state travel, or business use of
   personal vehicles.
·= Ownership of a vehicle or possession of a driver's license is not required for receiving
   non-driver reward, but person must be a Wisconsin resident.
                                                                                                            18


Table 4. Ways to Reduce Vehicle Miles Traveled

       At Home                             At Work                               By Others
Seek Out Rides with Others           Use Teleconferencing                  Offer Rides to Others, or to
Going to Same Locations              Whenever Possible                     Pick Up Goods at Stores for
                                                                           Others in Neighborhood
Work at Home or at a                 Choose Meeting Locations              Buy Locally Produced
Nearby "Satellite" Office            to Minimize Overall Travel            Products
Whenever Possible (if                by Meeting Participants
Driving is Otherwise
Required)
Use Non-Motorized                    Reserve the Smallest                  Choose Products Having
Transportation or Walk               Number of Transport                   Less Packaging
Whenever Possible,                   Vehicles Possible
Otherwise Take Transit
Move Residency Location              Always Select Conference              Avoid Buying Unneeded
if Work Location is                  Sites and Building                    Products, and Encourage
Unlikely to Change                   Locations (& Designs)                 Others to Avoid Buying
Frequently and Driving or            Having Pedestrian, Transit            Unneeded Products, Too.
Carpooling is Always                 Access and Bicycling (Plus
Required                             Parking & Shower)
                                     Facilities
Minimize VMT by                      Encourage Employees to                Proactively Encourage
Choosing Places to Shop,             Work at Home, or to Use               Coordinated Transportation
Recreate, and Work that are          Satellite Offices, Whenever           to Any Events You
Closer to Home                       Possible                              Participate In



Table 5. Relative Transportation Mode Fossil Fuel Efficiencies1

Auto                                                1.00 (Ref.)
Rail                                                 .48
High Speed Rail                                     (NA)
Inter-city Bus                                      2.20
Air                                                   .92
Bicycling Walking                                    0.00




1
  Efficiency of each transportation mode to relative to auto travel, which is the reference. For example,
taking an inter-city bus is 2.2 times as energy efficient as driving a car the same distance. These
percentages have been derived from Schipper, et. al (1993).
                                                                                                   19


Table 6. Payment Schedule for Low Airplane Miles Traveled Per Person

Payment                                                  Yearly Threshold (Miles Traveled)
$2,800                                                     0
$2,400                                                   100
$2,000                                                   200
$1,600                                                   300
$1,200                                                   400
$800                                                     500
$400                                                     600




Table 7. Wisconsin Residential Energy Consumption by Fuel Type, 1998

              Petroleum       Natural         Coal           Electricity1   Total End   Total
                              Gas                                           Use2        Resource
                                                                                        Use3
Trillions     33.9            117.7           .4             59.4           211.4       343.1
of Btu
Used
Percent       16%             56%