Cash for Clunkers - The Ultimate Attack on the Environment!

What?! Isn't Cash for Clunkers supposed to help the environment? After all, look at all those nasty gas-guzzling cars we are taking off the road!

OK, let's look and see if the numbers really add up!

First, let's assume that each clunker would have gotten 50,000 more miles on the road before their owners finally retired them. (Now, wait a minute, if these are clunkers, then they probably weren't going to last another 50,000 miles!) Yes, I know -- but actually, we better use the 50,000 mile figure -- otherwise the environmental savings we calculate will be next-to-nothing.

OK, 50,000 miles at 10 miles per gallon savings. (Hey, wait a second, that is not even close to the reported average MPG difference -- it is much less.) Yes, I know -- but actaully, we better give this program the benefit of the doubt and use the 10 MPG figure.

That's 5,000 gallons of fuel saved over 50,000 miles. Not bad, we spend $4500 to save $10,000 in fuel. Oops! That's not the way to calculate the savings! 50,000 miles at 17 miles per gallon is about 2950 gallons of gasoline. 50,000 miles at 27 miles per gallon is about 1900 gallons of gasoline, a difference of just under 1100 gallons. That's $2200, not $10,000.

But wait, gasoline represents only 1/4 to 1/3 of the total energy compared to the energy used to make the car. At least as much oil and gas is used in making the car as will be consumed in gasoline over the life of the car. Since we are retiring that car 50,000 miles early, we are replacing it with $10,000 to $15,000 in energy costs to make the replacement.

The net result? We save $2,200. We spend $19,500 doing it. Not counting the environmental costs of disposing the clunker.

That's assuming the clunker would have been on the road for another 50,000 miles. At 25,000 miles, a more reasonable figure, you are looking at consuming $19,500 to save $1,100. Sounds like a twenty-for-one attack on the environment!

So, if you are an anti-environmentalist -- go ahead and trade in that clunker, now! It may be a long time before you get a better chance to slap an environmentalist in the face!

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