Copenhagen wants to be a green beacon to the world
In a few short weeks, the next climate change conference will take place in Copenhagen, Denmark. The country is the poster child for green energy policies and legislation. The country has imposed high taxes on fossil fuels and the purchase of fossil fuel powered cars. DONG (Denmark Oil and Natural Gas) Energy wants to increase its amount of renewable energy production from 15 percent to 85 percent within one generation. As part of DONGs push to increase renewable energy especially wind energy, the company as well as the country are putting into place Better Places electric car infrastructure and promoting a switch to a mostly electric car country.
According to the PBS program NOW, during World War II and later during the oil crisis in the 1970’s, Danes took to riding bicycles and walking most places. Danes still primarily bike or walk to work in good weather. Mass transit is also a popular method of transportation. Besides the worry over global warming and the conscious desire of many Danes to lower their use of energy and greenhouse gas emissions, there are some social policies that promote these practices as well.
As part of Denmark’s social policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, two separate taxes are charged on the purchase of new fossil fuel cars. There is a sales tax of 25 percent and an environmental tax of 180 percent. Thirteen gallons of gas cost $88, $53 of which is taxes. These are extremely high prices to pay for the ownership and use of an automobile.
However DONG and the Danish government will be offering an alternative to the high cost of automobile ownership with a three fold plan. First, DONG will be increasing the number of off shore windmills to 750. Because windmills create an uneven flow of electricity, the storage solution that the energy company and country want to implement is utilizing the lithium-ion batteries used in electric cars. To that end, the country has teamed up with Better Place to provide a charging infrastructure, along with battery changing stations for the Renault-Nissan electric cars that Better Place will be providing for sale. The cars will be bought but the batteries leased.
Excess energy will be stored in the electric car batteries and can also be tapped during times of peak energy usage via the charging stations. The electric cars will not have the 180 percent environmental tax and the cost per kilometer under the battery lease will not be as expensive as the cost of gas with its high taxes.
Copenhagen is implementing its national environmental policy not only as a way to reduce greenhouse gases in Denmark but also as an example to the rest of the world. Denmark is showing what can be accomplished when a country makes the choice to change.
