Last week, Penn State's Eco-Action group began lobbying the university for parking incentives for students who drive hybrid cars.

Certainly hybrid cars such as the Toyota Prius, which gets about 55 miles per gallon, are helpful to the environment because they require less gasoline to operate. And greater fuel efficiency also provides the biggest incentive to purchase a hybrid car.

However, parking incentives, such as those proposed by the Eco-Action group, would not be an advisable option to promote hybrids, because such incentives penalize individuals who drive standard cars as much as they reward owners of hybrid cars.

These incentives also raise the question of where such parking would be located, especially since parking on campus is currently limited.

Instead of providing preferred parking for hybrid cars at Penn State, it would be much more sensible for the university to put effort into promoting other environmentally friendly work, such as recycling.

Recycling is something that not only benefits the environment but that all students can do. The promotion of more modest steps may ultimately prove to have as much of a positive impact as using hybrid cars.

But with regard to the general public purchasing vehicles, incentives such as tax rebates and dealer incentives that promote hybrids would benefit the environment because they promote the purchase of new hybrid cars rather than rewarding people who already own them.

Ultimately, Penn State parking incentives will not encourage students to purchase hybrid cars. Rather than working to give the handful of students who own hybrids nice parking spaces, Eco-Action should advocate for students to participate in proactive environmental efforts that will actually make a difference.