GREEN SOLUTION #2: Greens announce tool box to gear up for end of cheap oil

Go to the Peak Oil Toolbox or FAQs.
Go to an interview with Jeanette about the package (mp3, 1.6MB, 6.53mins).

A "feebate" on newly registered cars and a competition to design, build and race the most fuel-efficent ship are just two of the items the Green Party has in its tool box to gear-up for the end of cheap oil.

"The world's demand for oil increases year upon year," Green Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons says. "Sooner or later we are going to have to live up to the reality that the world is going to run out of cheap accessible oil. We can no longer keep sticking our heads in the sand, hoping that we will find some more.

"The Green Party has developed a toolbox of measures that we think will better prepare New Zealand for the time when oil becomes so expensive that it is no longer a viable option to use it in the way we do now."

The tool box is the second in a series of "Green Solutions" the Greens will be unveiling during the election campaign.

"Along with many tools we have advocated for some time, such as our Auckland and Wellington transport plans, we have added some new ideas today," Ms Fitzsimons said.

"One thing that we can do immediately is to place a feebate on the registration of newly imported new and used cars, based on their fuel efficiency. From now on, people who buy gas guzzlers would pay a higher registration every year, while those who buy small and fuel-efficient vehicles would be rewarded for saving fuel with a rebate.

"Under the feebate scheme, people driving the cleanest cars could save up to $200 a year. There would be no net cost or profit to Government.

"We also want to encourage the development of new technologies that will provide alternatives to oil. The Antipodes Cup should do just that.

"Entrants will be given five to seven years to design and build a fuel efficient ship capable of carrying freight. We know there have been ships built overseas that cut their diesel use to half with computer-controlled aerofoils.

"We may find people can do even better than this. The competition will culminate in a race across the Tasman to Australia and the Islands. The result will be that New Zealand has a number of alternatives for transporting our goods overseas and importing the products we need."