Green Options » cash for clunkers

Solar Energy Blowing Up, & in Surprising Places!

Zachary Shahan — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 09:07:49 +0000

Global Solar Center just finished a comprehensive, 50-state survey of solar incentives and adoption. Who leads the nation? It is surprising. As they say, it is the states who were “solar laggards” that are now “solar leaders”. But incentives aren’t the only issue.

“Cash for Refrigerators” Debuts in Fall. Really.

Joe Walsh — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:11:30 +0000

Before heading home to face the anger at the now infamous health care “town halls,” Congress rushed through an extension to what was then considered a popular program: Cash for Clunkers. Then, like much of the August break, Cash for Clunkers went sideways as critics picked apart the program’s weaknesses, consumers stopped showing up with so many clunkers, and dealers started making noise about something as simple as when they might actually get the rebate money that the government promised.

So, what do you do when you have a poorly-conceived and ill-managed project winding down (Clunkers expires at 8 p.m. EST on August 24)? Kick off another one, even more poorly thought out, and gloss it with an equally catchy name: Cash for Refrigerators.

Beginning in the fall, consumers will have access—through existing state-level energy efficiency incentive programs —$300 million in stimulus funds made available as rebates for energy efficient appliances.

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A Greener Cash for Clunkers: Trade Your Car for a Bike

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:53:38 +0000

If you’ve kept an eye on the federal government’s “Cash for Clunkers” program (which will end on Monday), you know that it’s been a huge success on a number of fronts: hundreds of thousands of people have traded in older, less fuel-efficient vehicles for new models with better gas mileage, and some auto manufacturers are even rehiring. Of course, the program’s had its downsides, also: dealers have complained about slow reimbursements, and some environmentalists have worried that the fuel economy requirements weren’t quite stringent enough.

Portland, Oregon-based businessman Joe Doebele has another complaint about the program: there’s nothing in it to get commuters to shift from four wheels to two. Rather than just throw stones, though, Doeble decided to do something about this shortcoming: he’s started his own “cash for clunkers” program at his cargo bike shop Joe Bike.

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Clunkers for Cadillacs?

Joe Walsh — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:25:24 +0000

Last week, as lawmakers were on their way back home for August recess, they were only too happy to rubber stamp the extension of what looked at the time like an unequivocally successful and unanimously popular program. But, in their rush to get an extra $2 billion out the door, Congress overlooked several possible tweaks that might have made the Cash for Clunkers program a more sustainable economic stimulant and a “greener” environmental program.

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How ‘Cash for Clunkers’ is Adding Carbon

Joe Walsh — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 19:36:08 +0000

By most accounts, the Obama administration’s “Cash for Clunkers” program is a resounding success. You’ve heard the sound bytes: “good for consumers, good for dealers/the auto industry/the economy, good for the environment.” There was some embarrassing attention focused on the program during its second week as consumer response overwhelmed everything from the dealer interface system to the rebate financing that the government initially allocated.

As the program’s future hung in the balance, some dealers were left holding clunkers without a guarantee that the rebates would ever be paid, and as administration officials promised a hollow-sounding “good faith effort” to pay off all the deals already made, those dealers began to call customers to claw back the new cars or request cash payments to offset the rebate.

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The 21st Century Car Industry: Why Plug-in and Electric Car Conversions Could Fix it

Felix Kramer — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:14:15 +0000

Entrepreneurs have begun to retrofit ordinary combustion vehicles into all-electrics or plug-in hybrids. Here’s why this could be the “big fix” that the auto-industry needs.

Are we stuck with our oil addiction? What if millions of our middle-aged vehicles could be reincarnated as superior versions of their youthful selves, while developing new revenue streams for Detroit? What if that “fix” could start reducing the billion a day we spend on imported oil, while creating tens of thousands of local jobs in communities and cutting greenhouse gases from fossil fuels?

Automakers could do all this—by thinking of vehicles as upgradable high-tech products. For example: A pioneering Chicago startup makes a prototype Ford F-150 pickup with an all-electric range of 30 miles per charge. After that it’s a hybrid, boosting the best-selling truck’s 15 city miles per gallon to 21.

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Won’t Someone Please Save Our Clunkers!

Susan Kraemer — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:42:41 +0000

Jalopnik has issued a call to arms to its fans: Won’t someone please save our quirky classic cars. Ford Explorers - - fine, that’s one thing….but…

…this is the very last straw: “A classic example of vangenieering, is being sacrificed at Galpin Ford in Los Angeles. For what? A Ford Focus? We must let people know of the horrors. If you see a great vehicle being sacrificed take a picture and post it here. We must bear witness to the atrocity.”

Jalopnik is a site for the auto-world equivalent of Fashionistas, and the CARS Carpocalypse is hitting them hard. For the most part its devoted readers are putting a very brave face on it. But the agony:

“I saw a mid 80’s El Camino get traded in. I… I didn’t cry. I know it wouldn’t want to be looked at with misty eyes of mourning.”

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Creating the Infrastructure of Innovation

Nathan Isaacs — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 20:57:02 +0000

August is hotter than ever for those of us who envision a future where the streets are populated with plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles and powered by renewable energies.

The month began with the unveiling of Nissan’s Leaf electric vehicle. On Wednesday, President Obama and the Department of Energy announced $2.4 billion in grants to fuel the development of the electric vehicle industry and reduce our nation’s dependence on oil.

Next week opens with the second annual Plug-In 2009 in Long Beach, Calif.

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Detroit Captures Market Share of Dumped Clunkers

Susan Kraemer — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 22:19:43 +0000

Washington’s hugely popular cash for clunkers program has boosted all auto sales 16 percent from June to July as desperate and grateful Americans unloaded the gas guzzling behemoths they had been lured into buying with huge SUV tax credits by the Bush administration. (Small business owners like doctors, lawyers, and real estate agents had been able to use fossil friendly incentives to deduct more than $100,000 of the cost of an SUV from their taxes.) Now that they have the chance, Americans are unloading those gas guzzlers.

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Cash for Clunkers Program Out of Money?

Joanna Schroeder — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 20:53:32 +0000

You can’t turn on the TV and avoid the ads for the dealers promoting the Cash for Clunkers program. Experts predicted that the money would last at least two to three weeks, but alas, it is not so. The LA Times is reporting that in less than one week, the $1 billion dollars for the program is already gone and the government is scrambling to find more money to keep the program going. Worst case, I suppose they can just write “IOUs” like the state of California is doing and according to Governor Schwarzenegger, may be bailing out the federal government some day.

“We are working tonight to asses the situation facing what is obviously an incredibly popular program,” the White House told the LA Times. “Auto dealers and consumers should have confidence that all valid CARS transactions that have taken place to date will be honored.”

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Senate Passes Cash for Clunkers Program

Joanna Schroeder — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:34:04 +0000

The Senate passed the Cash for Clunkers Program today, which gives consumers with cars that get less than 18 miles per gallon the ability to turn them in for a $3,500 or $4,500 cash voucher. The bill was nearly defeated by Republicans, but Democratic support saved the day in part due to Obama’s lobbying of the program. The President still needs to sign the bill into law.

Although many people believe that the program is designed to reduce global warming emissions through the eradication of gas guzzling cars, its true purpose is to help out struggling automakers and car dealers with new car sales. A person who receives a credit as part of the program cannot buy a used car with the monies. Car sales in 2009 are predicted to be nearly half of what they were in 2008.

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Congress to Vote on Cash for Clunkers Program

Joanna Schroeder — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:39:21 +0000

For those of you driving clunkers, you may soon be able to turn that eyesore into cash. The House and Senate have agreed to designate $1 billion for the Cash for Clunkers program to be funded out of the significantly larger $106 billion wartime spending bill. Not yet law (Congress is expected to pass this bill this week) the bill will pay people for their “clunkers”. The goal is twofold: to get fuel inefficient cars off the road and to encourage consumers to buy new, fuel efficient vehicles.

A consumer who has a qualifying car will receive either a $3,500 dollar voucher or a $4,500 voucher. Your voucher credit depends on the improved gas mileage as compared to your current car.

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Cash for Clunkers: What Will They Do with all Those Old Cars?

Robin Shreeves — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:00:53 +0000

Two years ago when we bought our Prius, my then second grader had an idea. He thought that everyone should have to give up their old cars and buy a hybrid. That, he believed, would solve the global warming problem that he was so worried about. Someone in Washington has stolen my son’s idea.

The New York Times reported last week that President Obama embraces “cash for clunkers” a government sponsored incentive program that would offer Americans cash for trading in their old, inefficient vehicles for new fuel efficient cars. The program would help both the environment and the ailing auto industry.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that one of the reasons that we bought our Prius was because my husband’s company was offering a $5000 bonus to anyone who bought a vehicle that got 35 miles a gallon or better at the time. There was also a tax rebate - I believe it was $1800, don’t quote me on that figure, but we didn’t know about that when we made the decision.

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Congress Offering Cash for Clunkers: Nice Try But No Thanks

Robin Elton — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 23:36:48 +0000

Congress proposed a policy last week that would pay you up to $4500 on a gas guzzling trade-in, applicable towards a new fuel efficient vehicle. On the surface, this sounds great: getting those pollution spewing cars off the road and replacing them with efficient gas sippers, which “would reduce our dependence on foreign oil, decrease greenhouse gas emissions and stimulate the economy.”

Or maybe not. I think this policy’s a clunker. Here’s why.

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