Editor’s Note: Meeting the Challenge is an open-ended series from EnergytechStocks.com intended to build a blueprint for how the world can meet the incredible increase in all forms of energy that will be needed by 2030 without endangering the environment or nations’ security. In this series, recognized experts share their ideas and important new investment themes (including some that could turn out to be worth billions of dollars) emerge.

Posted: October 2, 2007

If you’re like most people, you drive to work and, when you get there, you park for free in space provided by your employer.

But what if your employer paid you to NOT park in that company parking lot? Would it be worth $50 or $100 a month to not drive to work but instead bicycle, carpool, or take public transportation?

Todd Litman of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute in Canada says one important way to reduce the amount of gasoline the world uses is to institute such a system, which he calls “Parking Cash Out.” By financially encouraging commuters to voluntarily give up their free parking space, automobile commuting could be reduced by up to about 30%, he says.

The saving in gasoline that this would produce would be in addition to the saving that Litman, in the first part of this series, said would be generated by altering how auto insurance premiums are determined, with motorists saving money for every mile they did not drive under a “Pay-As-You-Drive” system (PAYD). As with PAYD, Parking Cash-Out would also save lives and reduce air pollution, Litman emphasized in an extended interview with EnergyTechStocks.com.

According to Litman, a worker’s “free” parking space is actually a hidden employee benefit costing companies perhaps $50 per month per employee in suburban settings to as much as $150 per month per employee in cities. In short, that land has value which a company could tap by building on it or renting it to its neighbors, thereby more than offsetting the cost of paying its employees not to drive to work.

Litman believes that a “good portion” of today’s workers could make the shift to carpooling, public transportation, and walking or bicycling. In addition, Parking Cash-Out could be used as incentive to increase telecommuting, he said.

As with PAYD, Parking Cash-Out is just a more efficient way to run a transportation system, Litman noted. He added that, in order to reduce gasoline consumption, “We need to get away from the idea that every destination has free abundant parking” just waiting for us.

Part 3 of Litman Series Runs Tomorrow, October 3