Power and Value of Green in Promoting Sustainable Transportation Decisions

While it is increasingly popular to broadcast information regarding environmental impact, little is known regarding the effects this information has on human behavior. This research is aimed at beginning to answer the questions of whether, and to what extent, presenting decision makers with the environmental attributes of the transportation alternatives they face can be used to promote sustainable behavior. In order to investigate how people respond to this type of information, we designed and conducted three laboratory experiments in which subjects (UC Berkeley undergraduates) were presented with relevant information regarding different transportation decisions: auto purchase choice, mode choice, and route choice. Their decisions were then analyzed in order to determine how they valued reducing their emissions. Despite criticism that people are not familiar with pounds or tons of CO2, we found that our subjects have a value of “green” (VoG) of 15 cents per pound of emissions, and this is consistent across the range of transportation decisions we presented and is independent of whether the information was presented in tons or pounds or presented per year or per trip. We further found that there is a significant distribution of VoG among people with most below $1 per pound and many close to zero.

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: DVD
  • Features: Figures; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: 14p
  • Monograph Title: TRB 90th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers DVD

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01337542
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Report/Paper Numbers: 11-2134
  • Files: TRIS, TRB
  • Created Date: Apr 21 2011 1:09PM