Advertisement

Fuel prices are at an all-time high, yet (believe it or not), those who want to do a little more to save the planet are being hit in the wallet for doing so.

That's right -- if you're thinking of ditching your car and using a smaller, more fuel-efficient, less road-clogging moped/motorcycle to get to work you'll be in for a bit of a shock.

Now have your say Got something to say about today's column, or want to see what others think?  Visit The Forums While you're here, why not visit the Aardvark Hall of Shame and perhaps make your own nomination. 7

Instead of finding that there are incentives to be energy-responsible, moped riders are instead hit with paying $38 *more* each year for registering their vehicles.

Huh?

I was thinking of switching to a cheaper set of wheels to get around but this idiocy has put me right off that idea.

Okay, I hear you say, that extra registration fee is probably made up of a higher ACC levy to offset the fact that motorcyclists are statistically more likely to be involved in injury accidents.

Now that would be a fair point -- except for the fact that those with electric-powered cars are also forced to pay more than those whose cars guzzle petrol and spit out greenhouse gases.

I kid you not! Registering a "Non-petrol driven" private car costs $81 a year more than a regular car.

Now I can't help but get the feeling that the government really has no idea how to incentivise folks to reduce their transport fuel consumption.

I also shudder when I hear that they're bringing in legislation to mandate that fuel companies start watering down our transport fuels with biodiesel and ethanol.

As those watching the Sunday programme on TV1 last night will have seen, the Aussies have a much different perspective on such things. They offer *incentives* for folks to switch to alternative fuels -- rather than just passing laws to force them, while continuing to levy punitive taxes on fuel-responsible folks.

What a giant stuff-up this is.

If those charged with the responsible management of our environment, roads and balance of trade ledger really want to get us out of large gas-guzzling vehicles and into more fuel-efficient transport then why not significantly reduce the cost of registering these alternative vehicles?

Right now, the government has an operating surplus in excess of $6bn and faces the prospect of having to pay a fist-full of dollars other countries in order to meet its Kyoto obligations. This will obviously cause our trade deficit to blow out even further than it already is (and it's not looking good).

Why not spend just a small amount of that to encourage Kiwis not to make so much pollution in the first place???

Of course none of this probably matters to the large number of government ministers who are currently overseas enjoying yet another round of taxpayer funded junkets -- and using huge amounts of fossil fuels in the form of air-travel in the process.

What do you think?

Is the government just being totally miserly by not recognising the potential for alternative vehicles or power sources to reduce our international fuel bills and help reduce our greenhouse gas emissions?

Oh yeah, please visit the advertiser you see at the top of this column -- let them know that Aardvark's a good place to be -- even when it's free :-)

Free Advertising!
Yes, while I sort out the issue of sponsorship, I'm offering loyal Aardvark readers the chance to have their venture advertised for free on these pages.

If you send me your 150x150 banner (no more than 20KB) and a URL to point at, I'll put it in a rotation to appear in the area currently allocated to sponsorship.

Because of my government-imposed state of impoverishment, I won't be charging for this exposure and there's no obligation to anyone -- but neither are their any promises ;-)

Drop me a line if you'd like to take advantage of this.

Did you notice
As eagle-eyed readers will have noticed, sponsorship of this fine blog/column is up for grabs.

Those who have already made enquiries about sponsoring Aardvark should hear back from me this week - and anyone else who might like to do so should drop me a line ASAP.

Tell us all and see what others have to say in The Aardvark Forums

If you feel that this is a good thing and/or you hold a "geniune affection" for yours truly -- then you are welcome to gift me some money using the buttons provided. In gifting this money you accept that no goods, service or other consideration is offered, provided, accepted or anticipated in return. Just click on the button to gift whatever you can afford. NOTE: PayPal bills in US dollars so don't accidentally gift more than what you were intending :-)

Contacting Aardvark
I'm always happy to hear from readers, whether they're delivering brickbats, bouquets or news tip-offs. If you'd like to contact me directly, please this form. If you're happy for me to republish your comments then please be sure and select For Publication.

Other media organisations seeking more information or republication rights are also invited to contact me.

Just add a couple of lines of JavaScript to your pages and you can get a free summary of Aardvark's daily commentary -- automatically updated each and every week-day.

Aardvark also makes a summary of this daily column available via XML using the RSS format. More details can be found here.

Contact me if you decide to use either of these feeds and have any problems.

Linking Policy
Want to link to this site? Check out Aardvark's Linking Policy.

Did you tell someone else about Aardvark today? If not then do it now!