by Arthur75 » Sun 28 Jun 2009, 05:45:48
I don't follow the thing very closely but is the law more a cap and trade thing or a tax ?
How about the proposal by James Hansen :
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'R')ising price on carbon emissions via a "carbon tax and 100% dividend".
A rising price on carbon emissions is the essential underlying support needed to make all other climate policies work. For example, improved building codes are essential, but full enforcement at all construction and operations is impractical. A rising carbon price is the one practical way to obtain compliance with codes designed to increase energy efficiency.
A rising carbon price is essential to "decarbonize" the economy, i.e., to move the nation toward the era beyond fossil fuels. The most effective way to achieve this is a carbon tax (on oil, gas, and coal) at the well-head or port of entry. The tax will then appropriately affect all products and activities that use fossil fuels. The public's near-term, mid-term, and long-term lifestyle choices will be affected by knowledge that the carbon tax rate will be rising.
The public will support the tax if it is returned to them, equal shares on a per capita basis (half shares for children up to a maximum of two child-shares per family), deposited monthly in bank accounts. No large bureaucracy is needed. A person reducing his carbon footprint more than average makes money. A person with large cars and a big house will pay a tax much higher than the dividend. Not one cent goes to Washington. No lobbyists will be supported. Unlike cap-and-trade, no millionaires would be made at the expense of the public.
The tax will spur innovation as entrepreneurs compete to develop and market low-carbon and no-carbon energies and products. The dividend puts money in the pockets of consumers, stimulating the economy, and providing the public a means to purchase the products.
A carbon tax is honest, clear and effective. It will increase energy prices, but low and middle income people, especially, will find ways to reduce carbon emissions so as to come out ahead. The rate of infrastructure replacement, thus economic activity, can be modulated by how fast the carbon tax rate increases. Effects will permeate society. Food requiring lots of carbon emissions to produce and transport will become more expensive and vice versa, encouraging support of nearby farms as opposed to imports from half way around the world.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/ja ... rack-obamaI really think this is by far the most sensible proposition.
Cap n trade is junk, didn't really work in Europe the corresponding markets crashed, the concept is a joke anyway. (it would make sense if GW was the only issue and we were sitting on piles of fossile fuels, but everybody knows the key, if not primary issue is as much surviving through less energy consumption)
What is required is a way to direct investments to less energy consuming products and way of life, and this concept of a 100% redistributed carbon tax, a new word should be used as it isn't really a tax (could also be part tax part 100% redistributed) is a great idea to achieve it :
- doesn't require huge bureaucracy
- much cheaper to implement and run than the cap n trade bullshit for sure
- most energy consumption today in fact derives from personal choice, so normal that the 100% redistributed part will push on these personal choices
- solution agnostic : will not favor stupid solution from an energy point of view through subsidies like corn ethanol stuff
- fully anonymous : no good or bad citizen finger pointing, everybody choose what they buy, if you want to continue doing 100 miles daily roundtrips in a hummer go for it
Of course might be too late ...
But the core is to put constraints on investment decisions, this 100% redistributed carbon tax would clearly be the best way.