Scrap Your Car – Buy A Hybrid…or a bus pass, or a bike.

First off, I had no idea this program existed (perhaps because I don’t drive):

The Scrap-It Program is working to improve Lower Mainland air quality by getting older, high-polluting vehicles off the road.

Trade your qualifying vehicle for one of these incentives.

Gordon Campbell (BC’s premier for all your non BCrs) announced yesterday that the BC government will be providing an additional $15 million towards the Scrap-It program.  These fifteen squared G’s means the Scrap-It program is no longer confined to the Lower Mainland, but available throughout the entire province (hurrah).

There are many excellent incentives available, including:

  • $1000 towards the purchase of a hybrid car
  • $500 towards a newer vehicle
  • Up to $500 on a new bicycle

Of course, the catch is you must purchase your new car or bike from a participating dealer.

Wait, what possible impact will removing old cars in BC have on BC carbon dioxide emissions?  Well, according to the BC Ministry of Environment press release:

It’s expected the program will “scrap” between 10,000-20,000 older vehicles over the next three years. If an average of three tonnes a year of CO2 is secured from 15,000 “scrapped” vehicles for a three-year remaining life, it would reduce CO2 emissions in B.C. by an estimated 135,000 tonnes.

Is this a significant amount of carbon dioxide?  According to CARMA (which was covered on Terry* here), current industrial emissions are 3.3 million tonnes (not total emissions, just industrial).  So, although the 135,000 tonnes the BC government hopes to save is but a few percent of the total industrial emissions, the Scrap-It program is likely oodles easier to undertake than retrofitting old power plants.

So, if you’ve been itching to move that smoke spewing, oil burning jalopy out of your driveway and into the recycling bin, you’ve officially run out of excuses not to.

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Dave Semeniuk spends hours locked up in his office, thinking about the role the oceans play in controlling global climate, and unique ways of studying it. He'd also like to shamelessly plug his art practice: davidsemeniuk.com