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RIVM rapport:Abstract niet beschikbaar, In this study various aspects of ownership and use of private cars by households are studied. The private car has been at the centre of discussions about environmental problems for many years. The study starts with a discussion of the effectiveness of environmental policy with respect to the private car and concludes that price and tax instruments still appear to be valuable instruments, despite some prima facie evidence against them. Technical aspects of automobile engines are discussed subsequently and it is noticed that potential environmental benefits caused by technical developments are not always realized because of changes in behaviour. A brief summary of the development of the prices of automobile fuel shows that the variable cost of automobile use for gasoline drivers has certainly not increased during the past thirty years. By focusing attention on years in which there were relatively large changes in these prices it was, nevertheless, possible to estimate behavioural reactions to price changes. Increases in the gasoline price lead to lower fuel use per kilometre, decreases in the price to higher fuel use. The number of kilometres driven could also be shown to be influenced by changes in the fuel price. There appear to be interesting differences between the reactions to the price decrease in early 1986 caused by the fall in crude oil prices and the tax increase of 1991. In the next part of the study choice of fuel type is explained by a trade off between disadvantages associated with the use of diesel and LPG and a monetary benefit for drivers of large numbers of kilometres caused by the lower variable cost of these fuels. These lower cost appear to induce additional demand for kilometres. Finally the choice of commuting distance was analysed by means of a search model. Although workers do not appear to be footloose, the monetary evaluation of the resistance against additional commuting kilometres appears to fall short of the generalized travel cost involv

RIVM rapport:Op verzoek van de werkgroep 'vergroening van het fiscale stelsel' (ingesteld door het Ministerie van Financien) heeft het RIVM de milieu-effecten van een aantal fiscale maatregelen geraamd, die betrekking hebben op het energiegebruik (en de daaraan gekoppelde CO2-emissies) en op het personenautogebruik. Het betreft zowel maatregelen die in het verleden zijn genomen, als beleidsvoornemens of mogelijke beleidsopties voor de toekomst. Op het energieterrein zijn de effecten geraamd van de brandstofheffing (WBM) in het verleden en van een reeel constante brandstofheffing tot en met het jaar 2000. Tevens is het effect gekwantificeerd als 25% van de heffingsopbrengst in de periode 1994-2000 wordt teruggesluisd naar de betreffende doelgroepen voor extra maatregelen voor energiebesparing. Ten aanzien van verkeer en vervoer is een schatting gemaakt van het effect van de (reele) verhoging van de brandstofaccijns in het verleden en van een verhoging van de brandstofaccijns in de toekomst conform NMP-2. Tot slot zijn berekeningen gemaakt van de effecten van veranderingen in het reiskostenforfait. Alle geraamde effecten zijn uitgedrukt in reducties in energiegebruik, in CO2-emissies en - voor zover relevant - in personenautogebruik., By order of the Dutch Ministry of Finance a working group is investigating the possibilities of introducing a 'greener' tax system in the Netherlands. At the request of this working group, the Dutch National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) has quantified the environmental effects of possible energy and fuel taxes in the future. Besides, the energy-saving effects have been estimated of returning 25% of the energy-tax revenues in the period 1995-2000 to consumers and firms to simulate additional investments in energy efficiency. For transport special attention has been paid to the effect of changes in travel-cost allowances for commuters by car on car use, CO2 emissions and congestion. All effects are expressed in reductions in energy use, CO2 emissions and - if relevant - in car use.

RIVM rapport:Volgens het personenautomodel FACTS kennen prijsmaatregelen een verschillende invloed op het autobezit en gebruik, afhankelijk van de wijze waarop de maatregelen ingevoerd worden (procentueel of een vast bedrag, algemene maatregel of gedifferentieerd naar auto-/brandstoftype) en de kostenpost waarop de prijsmaatregel van toepassing is (MRB, BPM, brandstof, rekeningrijden e.d.). Daarnaast blijkt de invloed afhankelijk te zijn van de scenariocontext en de omvang van de prijsmaatregel. Tenslotte is het effect van de maatregel in de tijd niet constant. Indien twee prijsmaatregelen worden gecombineerd blijkt het effect in 30% van de gevallen af te wijken van het 'verwachte' effect (het gecombineerde effect bij 'onafhankelijkheid' van de maatregelen). Soms treedt zelfs onderlinge tegenwerking op. Emissies van NOx en VOS zijn naast veranderingen in de omvang van het autogebruik sterk afhankelijk van eventuele wijzigingen in de aandelen diesel, benzine en LPG. Vanwege de soms niet verwachte resultaten bij gecombineerde maatregelen en vanwege de gevoeligheid van de NOx- en VOS-emissies voor veranderingen in de aandelen benzine, diesel en LPG, verdient het aanbeveling beleidsvragen te beantwoorden met behulp van modelsimulaties in plaats van gebruik te maken van bekende simulaties en/of literatuur., The FACTS car computer model is used for predicting the influence of income and price changes on car ownership and use, and energy and emissions. The great number of simulations show that the macro-economic scenario is seen to influence the effect of income and price measures. The influence of pricing measures on car ownership and use depend on how price increases are introduced, e.g. an absolute or percentage-wise price increase, a general increase for all car models or an increase that varies with the car model (fuel, weight). Further, the influence of pricing measures depends on the cost item increased (e.g. fuel and other variable prices, sales taxes on new cars and annual road taxes). Finally, the effect of a measure changes over time. If two measures are combined, the overall effect is in 30% of the cases seen to differ from the 'expected' effect (if measures are independent). Sometimes combined price measures can even counteract each other, causing less effect than only one pricing measure. Emissions of VOC and NOx depend on the number of kilometres driven and changes in the share of the total diesel, petrol and LPG. For these two reasons it is recommended to simulate effects of combined measures and effects on VOC and NOx emissions rather than to use existing model output and/or literature studies on effects.

RIVM rapport:Acidification effects of two scenarios of the European Community (EC) i.e., Conventional Wisdom and High Prices, are assessed in the framework of the 5th Action Programme. A comparison between these two EC scenarios and 3 pan-European scenarios (Current Reduction Plan, maximum Feasible Reduction, Globe II) is made. It is shown that the most stringent EC scenario i.e., High Prices, does not sufficiently reduce the level of acidification by 2010, Acid deposition still exceeds European critical loads. The report concludes that emissions of acidifying pollutants should be negociated in a pan-European framework.