Determinants of consumer interest in fuel economy: Lessons for strengthening the conservation argument Michael Popp a, *, Liesbeth Van de Velde b , Gina Vickery a , Guido Van Huylenbroeck b , Wim Verbeke b , Bruce Dixon a a Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, University of Arkansas, 217 Agriculture Building, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA b Department of Agricultural Economics, Ghent University, Coupure links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium article info Article history: Received 1 May 2008 Received in revised form 9 December 2008 Accepted 21 December 2008 Published online 31 January 2009 Keywords: Fuel economy Fuel efficiency Consumer perceptions Food vs. fuel tradeoff abstract With an outlook for higher global energy prices and concomitant increase of agricultural resources for the pursuit of fuel, consumers are expected to seek more fuel-economic transportation alternatives. This paper examines factors that influence the importance consumers place on fuel economy, with attention given to differences between American and European consumers. In a survey conducted simultaneously in the United States (U.S.) and Belgium in the fall of 2006, respondents in both countries ranked fuel economy high among characteristics considered when purchasing a new vehicle. Overall, respondents in the U.S. placed greater emphasis on fuel economy as a new-vehicle characteristic. Respondents’ budgetary concerns carried a large weight when purchasing a new vehicle as reflected in their consideration of a fuel’s relative price (e.g. gasoline vs. diesel vs. biofuel) and associated car repair and maintenance costs. On the other hand, high-income Americans displayed a lack of concern over fuel economy. Concern over the environment also played a role since consumers who felt empowered to affect the environment with their purchasing decisions (buying low and clean emission technology and fuels) placed greater importance on fuel economy. No statistically significant effects on fuel economy rankings were found related to vehicle performance, socio-demographic parameters of age, gender or education. Importantly, the tradeoff between using agricultural inputs for energy rather than for food, feed and fiber had no impact on concerns over fuel economy. Finally, contrary to expectations, U.S. respondents who valued domestically produced renewable fuels did not tend to value fuel economy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. 1. Introduction The United States (U.S.) and the European Union (E.U.) differ in many aspects related to fuel consumption, fuel economy and energy policy. One of the major differences is energy taxation. The E.U. has a significantly higher transportation energy tax. In recent history, retail regular unleaded gasoline in the U.S. carried approximately a 20% tax [1], whereas the comparable grade of Euro-Super 95 was taxed at approximately 65% [2]. Due to the E.U.’s taxation policy, it is plausible that additional investment in public transportation has occurred and that vehicle fuel economy takes on a more important role in the E.U. Further, smaller vehicles, which in general have greater fuel economy than larger vehicles, may more easily navigate * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ1 479 575 6838; fax: þ1 479 575 5306. E-mail address: mpopp@uark.edu (M. Popp). Available at www.sciencedirect.com http://www.elsevier.com/locate/biombioe 0961-9534/$ – see front matter Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.biombioe.2008.12.007 biomass and bioenergy 33 (2009) 768–778