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The Drive Toward PAYD

Mixed news for those of us who have been longing for a real low-mileage discount on our auto insurance: A new analysis of the prospects for pay-as-you-drive vehicle insurance (PAYD) concludes that it’s about three years away from broad implementation. The analysis cites a number of barriers for adoption by insurance companies—such as launch costs, the issue of privacy violations, and patent fees—but concludes that consumer interest, potential cost savings, and a growing body of research on why mileage as a risk factor makes loads of sense will eventually spur insurers to offer PAYD. (See a full discussion of PAYD benefits in this fact sheet.)

Key quote: "Increasing government focus on road safety, the ability to verify insurance claims using tamper-proof vehicle data and the potential cost savings for insurance companies, commercial vehicle operators and the consumer, will drive the eventual introduction of commercial PAYD."

Todd Litman of Victoria Transport Policy Institute noted that the analysis might be overly cautious, because it focuses on high-technology ("black box") implementation. The timeline may speed up if companies decide to use simple odometer-based pricing, an approach Netherland’s Polis Direct is trying.

Meanwhile, we can vote with our wallets as soon as a Northwest insurer takes the leap.

Burger Flip-flop

From the weird but true department:  McDonalds restaurants in south-central Washington are now routing their drive-through orders through North Dakota, where wages are cheaper.

It makes one wonder where the outsourcing will stop—if, for example, commentary on environmental and social trends in the Pacific Northwest will soon be penned by wittier, more insightful writers hailing from Sri Lanka or Bangalore.

Without a Safety Net

A spot of bad news: a recently released report (pdf)from Washington state’s Office of Financial Management finds that the share of Washingtonians without health insurance rose last year. Roughly one in ten Washingtonians (9.5 percent) went without health insurance in 2004, up from 8.4 percent in 2002.

Not surprisingly, poor people are the most likely to be without coverage. One in five state residents below the federal poverty line has no health insurance. (In 2004, the poverty line was $18,850 for a family of four, or $9,310 for a single person.)

Kids do slightly better than the average: only 6 percent of the state’s children are without health coverage.  But that’s still far more than in, say, British Columbia, where no kids are uninsured.

The Heat Pump is On

A while back I raved about heating homes with geothermal heat pumps, which can be incredibly energy efficient, generating two or three times as much usable heat as is contained in the electricity they consume. The Northwest Power and Conservation Council identified heat pumps as the second most important source of electricity savings in people’s homes (see page six, here–but be careful, it’s a big .pdf download)—which is one reason why many Northwestern electric utilities offer rebate programs to homeowners who elect to install them.

But apparently some utility conservation managers are skeptical of the heat pump rebates, as discussed in this article in Northwest Current (an online energy-issues newsletter).  They seem to have several objections to the rebates, some of which are fairly reasonable, but one of which shows a flaw in how we treat energy efficiency investments.

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Black and White

From the Victoria Times Colonist, an editorial arguing that a good way to protect one of Cascadia’s rarest creatures is to stop shooting it. British Columbia’s central coast, a region of dense rainforest, is home to an unusual animal: the Kermode bear (sometimes called the Spirit Bear or Ghost Bear). It’s actually a black bear that carries a recessive gene for white fur, which means that one can occasionally find a white-coated black bear.

Because of its distinctive appearance and cultural importance for indigenous people, the Kermode bear has been a rallying symbol for ancient forest protection in BC. It’s a classic example of what conservation biologists call "charismatic megafauna." Partly as a result of the bears’ celebrity status, the province may set aside about one-fifth of the 11.4 million acre central coast region for parks and conservation areas. But hunting black bears may still be allowed even in the protected areas.

The editorial argues, sensibly enough, that black bear hunting should be outlawed in those designated areas, on the grounds that ordinary-looking black bears may carry the rare gene for white fur. (It’s already illegal to shoot a white Kermode bear.) Black bear hunting would still be legal throughout most of BC, but not in a few places where the bear population maintains the unusual white gene.

Protecting our native biodiversity should extend beyond the few members of the animal kingdom that are big or cuddly-looking (it’s important to protect lampreys, as well as sea otters). But it seems to me we have an extra obligation to preserve the rare creatures in our region that live nowhere else in the world.

Senior Slump

Of course, the usual caveats apply—it’s hard to predict these sorts of things far into the future.  But with shorter lifespans, higher birthrates, and more immigration than most other industrial democracies, the US has much less reason to worry about financing its retirees than does, say, Japan.

Prosper and Live Long?

We’ve mentioned before that British Columbia has Canada’s longest life expectancy.  But residents of Richmond, in the Greater Vancouver area, have BC’s longest lifespans:  83.4 years, nearly 2 years longer than in Japan, the longest-lived nation in the world.

That’s about 5 years of extra life, compared with the average for the Northwest states (WA, OR, and ID).  Over the last two decades, lifespans in the US Northwest have increased by about two and a half years.  So if present trends continue, Richmond already has the lifespan that we’ll enjoy in about 2045.

Now, there’s no clear explanation for why Richmond residents live so long, but it’s likely to be a combination of factors: good diets (many Richmond residents are Asian emigrants, with diets high in vegetables and low in saturated fats); a service-based economy with few high-risk jobs; and, possibly most importantly, affluence.  Money is no guarantee of a long life—America is a wealthy nation, but it ranks below Costa Rica and Cyprus in life expectancy, and just a bit ahead of relatively impoverished Cuba.  But all else being equal, affluent residents of a given society tend to live longer.

But not always.  Okinawa, Japan’s poorest prefecture, has the country’s longest expectancy, and a remarkable number of centenarians.  Their secret (besides a healthy diet) seems to be strong communities that help keep seniors secure, engaged and active, both socially and physically. 

So even without exhorbitant wealth, strong communities can improve health—which is something we should all take to heart.

What's Mine is Yours

A permit for exploratory coal mining in eastern British Columbia, along the Flathead River, has riled Montantans who fear downstream contamination from mine activities. The Flathead flows south, bordering Glacier National Park, and empties into Flathead Lake in western Montana. (Montana is no stranger to toxic pollution from mines. The state is home to 14 federal superfund sites, most resulting from mining activities.)

The trans-border tension reminds us of an important, if obvious, lesson: environmental harm does not respect political borders. Which means, perhaps, that economic and environmental decision-making should be leavened by input from all who are affected—not just the folks who happen to see more of the benefits than the costs.

Snow Business III

A terrific piece of journalism today in a small town paper, the Hood River News. It’s a close look at the economic impacts of this season’s anemic snowfall, a subject we’ve been following this winter. The article puts some hard numbers to the story of shuttered ski areas in Hood River County, Oregon.

Here’s a look at Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Resort (which is just one of many struggling ski areas in the Northwest). By the numbers:

Employees, January 2004: 1000-plus

Employees, January 2005: 47

Payroll, typical year: $4.5 million

Payroll, this year: $1.5 million

Ski visitors last year: 350,000

Ski visitors this year: 76,000

Without skiers, receipts shrink for eateries, hotels, and even beer-makers. The losses add up, especially when you multiply the effects by the dozen or so ski resorts along the Cascades. Sadly, the consequences for rural ag-dependent counties like Hood River may be more serious than lost ski revenue. Low snowpack in the winter means less water in the summer for economic staples like apples, cherries, and pears.

Last week was predicted to bring new snow and a chance for late-season re-openings, but the weather forecasts were wrong. At the moment, it’s 39 degrees at the Summit at Snoqualmie, which will likely stay shuttered until next winter. At Mt. Hood, the National Weather Service is currently predicting highs into the mid- and upper-40s for the rest of the week.

Liter of the Pack

I didn’t know this: in Canada, automobile fuel economy is expressed as gallons per mile, not miles per gallon as it is in the U.S.  (Well, really, it’s liters per hundred kilometers, but if you’re south of the 49th parallel and a metric-system-phobe, gallons per mile is essentially the same thing.)

Now, I don’t mention this just to expose my lack of cultural knowledge of my northern neighbors.  I mention it because it seems to me that liters-per-kilometer is a much better way of expressing the fuel efficiency of autos.

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