The impact of ‘Cash for Clunkers’ on greenhouse gas emissions: a life cycle perspective
Open accessAbstract
One of the goals of the US Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save (CARS) Act of 2009, more commonly known as ‘Cash for Clunkers’, was to improve the US vehicle fleet fuel efficiency. Previous studies of the program’s environmental impact have focused mainly on the effect of improved fuel economy, and the resulting reductions in fuel use and emissions during the vehicle use phase. We propose and apply a method for analyzing the net effect of CARS on greenhouse gas emissions from a full vehicle life cycle perspective, including the impact of premature production and retirement of vehicles. We find that CARS had a one-time effect of preventing 4.4 million metric tons of CO 2 -equivalent emissions, about 0.4% of US annual light-duty vehicle emissions. Of these, 3.7 million metric tons are avoided during the period of the expected remaining life of the inefficient ‘clunkers’. 1.5 million metric tons are avoided as consumers purchase vehicles that are more efficient than their next replacement vehicle would otherwise have been. An additional 0.8 million metric tons are emitted as a result of premature manufacturing and disposal of vehicles. These results are sensitive to the remaining lifetime of the ‘clunkers’ and to the fuel economy of new vehicles in the absence of CARS, suggesting important considerations for policymakers deliberating on the use of accelerated vehicle retirement programs as a part of the greenhouse gas emissions policy.
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Use scenarios can be constructed which lead to modest emission reductions both for lifetime extension and early retirement.
“Use scenarios can be constructed which lead to modest emission reductions both for lifetime extension [144] and early retirement [145-147].”
From Material efficiency strategies to reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with buildings, vehicles, and electronics—a review (2019) · cites this paper as [145]
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Lenski, S. M., Keoleian, G. A., & Bolon, K. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Michigan (US)
- ORCID
- Keoleian, Gregory A
- Venue
- Environmental Research Letters
- Publisher
- IOP Publishing
- Published
- 2010-10-01
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 044003
- ISSN
- 1748-9326 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2102004983
- Cited by
- 51
- References
- 20
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 5
- FWCI
- 6.16
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Environmental Research Letters (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Deep Blue (University of Michigan) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (0628162)
- University of Michigan
- Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Automotive Engineering › Vehicle emissions and performance
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Energy, Environment, and Transportation Policies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Environmental Impact and Sustainability
- Keywords
- Cash for Clunkers, greenhouse gas emissions, light-duty vehicles, vehicle replacement, emissions policy
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