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  Today Online 10 Feb 07
Going green makes dollars and sense
Would tourists visit S'pore if our skies were always grey?
Letter from Harvinder Singh

 Today Online 6 Feb 07
Why not take the green road, give more rebates on hybrid cars?
Letter from Amina Majeed Santos Lucas

I am a Singaporean and proud to be so because of how well green issues have been dealt with so far.

I do love the fact that our trees provide whatever necessary coolness to the environment and in absorbing the heat and dust in the air emitted by the pollution of cars on the road.

However, I have a suggestion. I was at the bus stop today and almost became sick with the polluted air that emitted from the buses and cars.

I'd like to know why it is that we are not doing more to encourage people to buy hybrid cars. I don't earn very much but I'm planning to buy a car and I'd love to be able to afford a hybrid car.

At present there is a 40 per cent rebate from the government, but the cars are still in the range of about $70,000. So I am forced to buy the cheaper versions such as the Nissan March and the other smaller cars because they are much cheaper than the hybrid cars.

If the average income Singaporean--like myself--make up the largest car population on the roads, there would be more environmentally-friendly cars should hybrid cars be more affordable to us.

Will the government support green issues by lessening the taxes on hybrid cars even more such that people would choose to buy them based on price? If hybrid car prices are competitive, more average income people like me would be more than happy to buy them and there would be more of them on the road.

I also think that taxi companies should turn to hybrid cars. Eventually even buses should be using biofuel. And then perhaps I can stand at a bus stop and not almost faint from the inhalation of fumes.

Perhaps I can then stand even taller and healthier as a Singaporean.

Today Online 10 Feb 07
Going green makes dollars and sense
Would tourists visit S'pore if our skies were always grey?
Letter from Harvinder Singh

I would like to thank Amina Majeed Santos Lucas for her excellent suggestion, asking the government to encourage taxi and bus companies to turn to hybrid or compressed natural gas ("Why not take the green road, give more rebates on hybrid cars?", Feb 6).

However, I feel that we as consumers can't wait for the Government to make up its mind about further subsidies.

I am also only a middle-income earner, but once I realised how serious global warming has become, I immediately changed my car to a hybrid. We have to make a stand on what is the right thing to do, and not wait for more government rebates.

I did the math, and even though a hybrid car is more expensive, the actual savings on petrol over the 10-year repayment period brings the car down to the same price as a normal car. Also, if my family has to cut back on a few luxuries to afford the hybrid car and be more environmentally conscientious, then we must.

As a citizen we need to take responsibility and decide what we are going to do to take the initiative and base decisions on dollars and sense — especially common sense.

I also believe that going "greener" will really pay off in a big way for the tourism industry.

My family and I just returned from a holiday to Macau, and as lovely an island as it is, it was so polluted, smoky and hazy — perhaps due to the pollution filtering in from China — we didn't enjoy ourselves and will never go back again.

If Singapore has fresh air and a clean environment, I don't think tourists will by-pass us for Macau.
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