Analyzing the Influence of Emission Savings on the Purchase of Energ Efficient Vehicles

摘要

In response to concerns related to climate change, and an attempt to encourage more sustainable behavior, individuals are often provided with information on greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) of consumer items, such as personal vehicles. Currently in the US, information on vehicle efficiency is provided as grams of carbon dioxide (C02) per mile. Previous research presenting C02 as a mass and testing willingness-to-pay through Discrete Choice Experiments has found that such information can influence vehicle choice. However, other research has questioned whether how this information is presented might affect decisions. That research argues that C02 emission information generally lacks contextualization that allows for interpretation. As well, it argues that the type of contextualization may affect choices. That research though did not test willingness-to-pay and the strength of its influence is not clear. In addition, research exists that argues that using pro-social, as opposed to financial, contextualization might be more influential on people's choices. In a first case study, we robustly analyze the influence that different framings about emission information might have on vehicle purchase. A second case study implements differing versions of EPA's window stickers (environmental labels) for new vehicles as treatments. Five different methods of presenting C02 information are tested in this experiment: current label (C02 emissions as grams per mile), C02 emissions as tons per year (yearly contextualization), an annual tax on C02 (yearly financial contextualization), C02 as a percentage of the 2025 US EPA reduction target of 26% from 2005 levels (social goal contextualization), and a combination of the financial and social goal contextualizations. Our results are policy relevant for better conveying to potential buyers the environmental benefits of electric vehicles (BEVs and PHEVs) and ultra low emission vehicles in general.