Automobile safety standards adopted because of federal legislation have, according to many researchers, failed to save lives; safer cars, they infer, induce more dangerous driving. Results from the major study suggesting this conclusion are shown, however, to be quite sensitive to reasonable...

The Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) legislation for regulating chemicals came into force in the EU in June 2007. This framework is stricter and more precautionary than its counterpart in the USA -- the Toxic Substances Control Act -- in that it requires data...

This paper examines the extent of consumer knowledge about plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) and the current policies in place to encourage their purchase and use. Data are collected via a survey administered to a sample of 2302 adult drivers in 21 of the largest cities in the United States....

Energy-saving technologies have a difficult time being widely accepted in the marketplace when they have a high initial purchase price and deferred financial benefits. Consumers might not realize that, in the long-run, the financial benefits from reduced energy consumption offset much or all of...

In public decision making about uncertain technological hazards, the precautionary principle calls for prompt protective action rather than delay of protections until scientific uncertainty is resolved. The precautionary principle has a sound basis in decision theory, particularly in situations...