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I wrote the comment you responded to. I live in Denmark, and here is my take on this. It's not as extreme that I'd call it "extremist state of affairs". Fewer

I wrote the comment you responded to. I live in Denmark, and here is my take on this. It's not as extreme that I'd call it "extremist state of affairs". Fewer cars are for the greater good. However, what pisses me the most is how it is really implemented. There is the famous 150% tax when you buy a car, and then there is a green tax every 6 months/quarter that is based on how efficient &a safe your car is. I'm all for the green tax. Heck, double or triple it, and make the SUV drivers pay. But, the 150% tax IMO is lop sided policy. It lead to too many small cars(VW Up, Seat equivalent, and the like) because that's what common people can afford. Another side effect is that people tend to keep shitty cars much longer than rational, because they cannot afford a better car - throwing away all the emission savings in the wind(pun intended). I think the law is made by politicians just based on life in Copenhagen, where you can use the trains and bike wherever. Public transportation is A-class, and you don't particularly need a car for the most part. The rest of Denmark, where I live, public transport is not as good, and car becomes a necessity if you go to work outside the city. We're the collateral damage of the narrow minded policies. /rant. Denmark, as everyone here says is an excellent place to live, and I have a bigger list of positives to list, and a tiny list including this car tax to complain about.

GeneralMayhem 8y ago
>people tend to keep shitty cars much longer than rational, because they cannot afford a better car - throwing away all the emission savings Keeping an older car rather than buying a new one is often the more environmentally sound decision, because it takes a very long time for improved efficiency to break even on the massive environmental investment of manufacturing the new car.
sjwright 8y ago
> they cannot afford a better car - throwing away all the emission savings Buying a new car for proportionally lower emissions is a false economy as much of the carbon footprint of a car is in its manufacture, not just its use. Holding onto older cars that aren't offensively inefficient (e.g. any small hatchback) seems environmentally responsible to me.
- rootusrootus 8y ago
  The carbon footprint of the manufacturing process is ~20% of the lifetime footprint for the car.
tyfon 8y ago
> Another side effect is that people tend to keep shitty cars much longer than rational, because they cannot afford a better car - throwing away all the emission savings in the wind(pun intended). Here in Norway the car has to pass quite strict emission standards (EU kontroll) every 2 years or it will not be allowed on the road. I think you have the same thing as it's from EU. So the amount of old clunkers that pollute should be minimal, mostly limited to veteran cars (25+ years in Norway) which are exempt.
jopsen 8y ago
Agreed, the tax is not ideal. It's better than nothing.. But it would be even better if we somehow could tax households higher for their second car. In practice it's probably an administrative nightmare with too many loopholes.
Doctor_Fegg 8y ago
> It lead to too many small cars(VW Up, Seat equivalent, and the like) because that's what common people can afford Slightly confused - what's the issue here? Small cars are good. They take up less street space and tend to be more economical. My wife owns a Fiat 500 (which is about as small as you get); it's much easier to park on the narrow streets of our rural town than a bigger car would be, its fuel consumption is stellar, and it's no bigger than we need.
- KozmoNau7 8y ago
  Large cars are seen as status symbols, so a lot of people think they need a big car to show how successful they are, and to "keep up with the Joneses". The sooner people shed this silly consumerism mindset, the better.

GeneralMayhem 8y ago

>people tend to keep shitty cars much longer than rational, because they cannot afford a better car - throwing away all the emission savings Keeping an older car rather than buying a new one is often the more environmentally sound decision, because it takes a very long time for improved efficiency to break even on the massive environmental investment of manufacturing the new car.

sjwright 8y ago

> they cannot afford a better car - throwing away all the emission savings Buying a new car for proportionally lower emissions is a false economy as much of the carbon footprint of a car is in its manufacture, not just its use. Holding onto older cars that aren't offensively inefficient (e.g. any small hatchback) seems environmentally responsible to me.

rootusrootus 8y ago
The carbon footprint of the manufacturing process is ~20% of the lifetime footprint for the car.

tyfon 8y ago

> Another side effect is that people tend to keep shitty cars much longer than rational, because they cannot afford a better car - throwing away all the emission savings in the wind(pun intended). Here in Norway the car has to pass quite strict emission standards (EU kontroll) every 2 years or it will not be allowed on the road. I think you have the same thing as it's from EU. So the amount of old clunkers that pollute should be minimal, mostly limited to veteran cars (25+ years in Norway) which are exempt.

jopsen 8y ago

Agreed, the tax is not ideal. It's better than nothing.. But it would be even better if we somehow could tax households higher for their second car. In practice it's probably an administrative nightmare with too many loopholes.

Doctor_Fegg 8y ago

> It lead to too many small cars(VW Up, Seat equivalent, and the like) because that's what common people can afford Slightly confused - what's the issue here? Small cars are good. They take up less street space and tend to be more economical. My wife owns a Fiat 500 (which is about as small as you get); it's much easier to park on the narrow streets of our rural town than a bigger car would be, its fuel consumption is stellar, and it's no bigger than we need.

KozmoNau7 8y ago
Large cars are seen as status symbols, so a lot of people think they need a big car to show how successful they are, and to "keep up with the Joneses". The sooner people shed this silly consumerism mindset, the better.