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Hybrids in HOV lanes may do more harm than good

I don't often agree with New York Times columnist John Tierney, but on this I do. The idea of opening up HOV lanes to hybrid cars is getting bandied about quite a bit, and is already a reality in Virginia and California. But as enticing as the idea may seem, I think it's a mistake.

In Virginia, carpool lanes are getting more and more clogged with drive-alone commuters in hybrid cars. But in terms of saving energy, it's more important to keep HOV lanes flowing freely for transit, vanpool, and (perhaps) carpools than to fill them with drive-alone commuters -- even if they're driving efficient cars. As more and more hybrids enter the vehicle fleet, the HOV-clogging problem will only intensify. Plus, hybrid owners may quickly come to perceive driving in the HOV lane as a right rather than a privilege, making it harder to reclaim those lanes for transit. On top of all that, politicians have a disturbing tendency to lower standards, allowing bigger and less fuel-efficient hybrids to use the lanes. So it's a bad idea to begin with, and the slippery slope makes it seem worse and worse.

Turning HOV lanes into HOT lanes -- "high-occupancy/toll" lanes free to buses and carpools, available to others for a toll that's dynamically priced to keep traffic flowing -- is a better option than opening HOV lanes to hybrids. Both ideas increase the number of cars on the road, but HOT lanes at least have the advantage of keeping transit moving smoothly while introducing the not-so-radical notion that freeways aren't really free.

The most potent argument against HOT lanes is that they're really "Lexus Lanes" -- i.e., rich people will pay to use them but everyone else will be stuck in traffic. Admittedly, the optics of HOT lanes aren't great. But hybrid owners tend to be a well-heeled bunch too, so giving them free access to the HOV lanes still has social and class implications. And besides, according to this Q&A (scroll down to the bottom) studies of HOT lanes in California say that:

Although roughly one-quarter of the motorists in the toll lanes at any given time are in the top income bracket, data demonstrate that the majority are low and middle-income motorists. The benefits of the HOT lane are enjoyed widely at all income levels.

I don't take that as definitive -- but it certainly suggests that the well-off wouldn't be the sole beneficiaries of HOT lanes.

That’s Why We Have to Assassinate Them

Foreign officials offer policy critiques — and aid — in Katrina’s wake International politicians and pundits are pointing to possible links between global warming and Hurricane Katrina and criticizing the environmental policies of the Bush administration. German Environment Minister Juergen Trittin caught heat from colleagues for the Tuesday timing — but not the substance — […]

The Big Greasy

New Orleans floodwaters a stew of sewage and toxic chemicals Toxic chemicals contaminating the New Orleans floodwaters may be less of a short-term health hazard than plain ol’ poop. Federal officials have declared a public health emergency for the Gulf Coast, fearing that viruses and bacteria from sewage in the floodwaters could cause a major […]

The Coastest With the Leastest

Coastal-ecology degradation contributed to Katrina’s destructive force Far from being solely a “natural” disaster, Hurricane Katrina’s impact was compounded by human alterations of the Gulf Coast ecology. Complex levee and canal systems built to protect New Orleans from being flooded by the Mississippi River, and to improve the river as a shipping channel, have also […]

Loading the hurricane dice

The smart gang at RealClimate has made an excellent contribution to the Katrina-and-global-warming discussion.

Gristniks hit the pages of the Globe

It looks like modesty has prevailed in the Grist offices again, as there hasn't been a peep about the op-ed in today's Boston Globe, entitled "A fit of (oil) peak," co-authored by Dave Roberts and Chip Giller.

It's also the first hit on Google News for "peak oil."

On framing environmentalism

This is part three of a three-part interview. You can read part one here and part two here.

In this section, Alex and I discuss the way environmentalism has been framed and what greens can do to change those frames.

On the Roadless Again

State leaders sue feds to bring back “roadless rule” Top officials from three Western states are suing the Bush administration in hopes of bringing back a rule banning road building on 58.5 million acres of national forests. The attorneys general of California and New Mexico, along with Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski (D), filed suit this […]

Katrina and oil

Some folks might look at the economic reverberations of Hurricane Katrina, which has done untold damage to our oil infrastructure, and think, "hm, maybe depending so heavily on a single source of fuel concentrated in a few small areas puts us unwisely at risk."

Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tx.) isn't one of those people:

Barton said the hurricane aftermath should be a "wakeup call" to the American people and government to increase domestic oil production from areas like the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge and the coast of California and to build new refineries.

How are journalists covering climate change in Katrina’s wake?

As the 140-mile-per-hour winds of Hurricane Katrina raged through the lush lowlands of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama on Monday, as people clung to their roofs, as levees crumbled, as fires blazed, we met in the Grist offices and asked each other: “Wonder if anyone’s writing about climate change?” Frankly, we committed the sin of heartlessness […]