ALL NEW YORK CABS WILL BE GREEN BY 2012!
by Jorge Chapa
Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York City, announced a few weeks ago his PlanNYC, an sustainability master plan for a greener NYC by 2030. Amongst some of the items involved in his plan was the need to have all NYC taxis to be extremely fuel efficient by 2017 (30 miles to the gallon). Well, in a shocking development, the ten year deadline will no longer apply. Now, every single taxi cab in the city must meet that requirement… by 2012!
What made that change happen? Well, for once, the need for political expediency actually helped the decision be made. You see, changing that regulation requires no state approval or financing, meaning that it can be proposed and implemented relatively easy. The change will save about 215,000 tons a year, which may seem tiny compared to the massive 28.3 million tons that the city generates. But having what is the most visible city in the world do this will put pressure on other large metropolis to move towards this goal.
+ Mayor Plans an All-Hybrid Taxi Fleet @ New York Times
+ PlanNYC 2030
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30 miles to the gallon is NOT “extremely” fuel efficient; hybrid vehicles are NOT “green,” they simply use a little bit less of the same exact fuel. A “green” vehicle might be electric, with the energy derived from solar, for example. Sure, more hybrid vehicles sounds great, but please do not call them green, and good lord, my old subaru gets 35+ mph just because I drive slowly and non-aggressively (more importantly: seldom!!); a greener choice would be to get the most out of every manufactured vehicle possible, given the carbon cost from the manufacturing process that is independent of fuel efficiency. Please, inhabitat, recognize things like this cab announcement for what it is: a teensy weensy baby step.