ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by highlighting some of the downsides of efficiency. Cheap is the new normal. Indeed, it is cool to be cheap. We could even say it is hard to be cool by not being cheap. In cheaponomics, choice means having a multitude of market options; of having, well, choice as a consumer. According to the Economist, one car-sharing rental can replace up to 15 owned vehicles. But it is not just about replacing car ownership with car rental. Car sharing has shown to be successful at replacing cars, period. In July 2009, Zipcar started its "Low-Car Diet Challenge", some that were self-admittedly heavily reliant on their cars - from 13 cities. We presently cannot even achieve efficiency gains fast enough to offset total global CO2 emissions, even though CO2 is widely considered one of the easiest decoupling challenges for the simple reason that we know how to generate energy without emitting greenhouse gases.
