{"id":46349,"date":"2019-05-25T08:50:26","date_gmt":"2019-05-25T13:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=46349"},"modified":"2019-05-25T08:50:31","modified_gmt":"2019-05-25T13:50:31","slug":"canadas-cars-are-worlds-worst-gas-guzzlers-but-bc-may-be-tipping-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=46349","title":{"rendered":"Canada\u2019s Cars Are World\u2019s Worst Gas Guzzlers, but BC May Be Tipping Point"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Canada\u2019s Cars Are World\u2019s Worst Gas Guzzlers, but BC May Be Tipping Point<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Surge in electric vehicle sales a silver lining to high pump prices.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Without BC\u2019s carbon tax on fuel, UBC researchers figured, demand per capita would be seven per cent higher and the average vehicle\u2019s fuel efficiency would be four per cent lower. Photo via Shutterstock.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

[Editor\u2019s note: Accelerating gasoline prices in B.C. have triggered an investigation<\/a>by the B.C. Utilities Commission and are helping to fuel a boom<\/a> in electric vehicle sales in the province. Refining more crude locally might eventually cause gasoline prices to drop but that would take years and a major investment, says<\/a> one analyst. \u201cI can\u2019t see anybody wanting to invest at least a billion [dollars] for a new refinery in British Columbia because you\u2019ve got electric vehicles coming over the hill. They\u2019re in the market, they\u2019re available, and they are a viable alternative to gasoline powered cars.\u201d 

Is that a tipping point we hear? The Tyee\u2019s Geoff Dembicki predicted<\/a> in December that might happen. Earlier this month, University of Calgary professor Blake Shaffer revealed Canadian cars are the world\u2019s top gas guzzlers, but B.C.\u2019s carbon tax along with provincial and federal electric-car-friendly policies are mapping the road to redemption. Given trends at the pump<\/a> and in the atmosphere<\/a>, Shaffer\u2019s findings are more relevant daily.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Usually when Canada is at the top of an international ranking, it\u2019s cause for celebration. Not this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent report by the International Energy Agency shows<\/a> that Canada\u2019s vehicles have the highest average fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions per kilometre driven. They are also the largest and the second heaviest in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short: Canadian vehicles are big<\/a>, heavy<\/a> and guzzle a lot of gasoline<\/a>. For a country that is championing its climate action, how do we square these facts?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u2026click on the above link to read the rest of the article\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Canada\u2019s Cars Are World\u2019s Worst Gas Guzzlers, but BC May Be Tipping Point Surge in electric vehicle sales a silver lining to high pump prices. [Editor\u2019s note: Accelerating gasoline prices in B.C. have triggered an investigationby the B.C. Utilities Commission and are helping to fuel a boom in electric vehicle sales in the province. Refining more crude locally […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[25943,13275,328,5595,5499],"class_list":["post-46349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-energy-2","category-environment","tag-blake-shaffer","tag-electric-vehicles","tag-fossil-fuels","tag-gasoline-prices","tag-the-tyee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46349"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46350,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46349\/revisions\/46350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}