The vote on the cap and trade energy bill is coming up in congress. It does not look like supporters have enough votes at this time to pass the bill. It seems that some Democrats are worried about the bill putting a huge tax burden on the country that could cripple the economy. That is my concern. I don’t feel that the cap and trade bill is the best way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
I got some good comments on my last article: Energy Cap and Trade is bad policy! I proposed a small carbon tax that would be used to fund clean energy development. One comment from William Ernest Schenewerk, Ph.D. was critical of my small tax because it would not result in a large enough reduction in carbon dioxide emissions:
“If goal is to arrest atmospheric CO2 at 2 times pre-industrial CO2 by 2080, then carbon tax must be at least 1.0 $/kg-C ($1000/tonne-Carbon). 1.0 $/kg-C tax doubles the price of electricity generated from fossil fuel. 1.0 $/kg-C tax does not give natural gas a price advantage over coal if natural gas costs more than $5/1000 ft^3. MHD-Coal may be competitive with natural gas regardless of the carbon tax.
Atmospheric C02 will double to 560 ppmv-C if an additional 414 Tkg-C goes into the atmosphere. Applying 1.0 $/kg-C carbon tax to 414 Tkg-C, represents 414 trillion year-2000 USD. This represents 3% World GDP between 2000 and 2080. This assumes 3% annual economic growth and CO2 doubling by 2080. If CO2 doubles by 2038, the 1.0 $/kg-C represents 15% World GDP.
Arresting CO2 at twice preindustrial by 2080 requires approximately 400 TWe y (1 million giga-watt-years electric) atomic generation between 2000 and 2080. After 2080 World annual atomic power requirement is 25 TWe.”
I don’t know if his numbers are correct, but generally I agree with him. He is making the argument that my small tax would not be sufficient to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the short run. His analysis is that we would have to double the cost of energy to achieve a reduction. The economic utility of energy means that people will pay a high price for the energy they need. The cap and trade bill would cause an auction where bidders like utility companies will have to pay whatever price for the energy they need and pass the cost on to consumers. Industrial users will most likely to be denied energy and without the energy there will be significant job losses. If energy consumption and jobs are moved overseas, it both hurts our economy and may actually increase global warming.
There are solutions to global warming that would not be devastating to our economy:
- Small carbon tax with the proceeds used to fund clean energy development through grants, tax credits, etc.
- Switch users from high carbon emission fuels like coal to lower carbon emission fuels like natural gas.
- Develop electric powered cars.
- Develop commercial vehicles like long haul trucks that run on natural gas.
- Build nuclear powered ships to haul cargo.
- Build nuclear power plants to replace coal plants.
- Set higher standards for energy efficiency in buildings, both private and commercial.
- Put a tax on incandescent light bulbs so consumers will switch to compact florescent bulbs or LED bulbs. (Tax where substitute is available)
There are a lot of things we can do without cap and trade. What we need to do is all of the other things. That is how we will reduce carbon emissions and create jobs.
Comments
There's NO global warming and human beings are NOT responsible for climate change. Obama and his accomplices keep changing the name of their scam to lie and manipulate more effectively! When it became evident that the earth was not warming, they came out with “climate change,” which made the hoax even more ridiculous!
more than 30,000 American scientists have signed onto a petition that states, "There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate."
Even the words "climate change" are NONSENSE. By its very nature, climate changes. The climate on earth has ALWAYS CHANGED and will continue to CHANGE, no matter what we do.
And it’s even more absurd to claim that humans are responsible for climate change! It's like saying "Wet Rain" and then blamin
We'll make sure to remember who is voting in favor of the abomination that is cap and trade. They'll have to answer to us for killing our businesses, taking away our jobs, and helping Obama enslave us with his Ponzy scheme.
I called my congressman yesterday about Cap and Trade. I live in Texas and our congressman is a demo :-( Anyway, when I called his offices yesterday they told me that he was getting a lot of pressure and it looks like he will NOT vote for it.
There is one thing that I keep drilling into these politicians, is that if they don't have time to read the damn bill, don't vote in favor it!! The Obama administration is using what I'll call “political terrorism” in that they are doing whatever they can to scare the public into thinking that their fix needs to be implemented right now! No matter what and we'll worry about the details later. Humm, I don't think so.
This president, I'm afraid to say is just a down right liar!! Put pressure on congress to stop this madness. Remember, you work for me and your job performance is being evaluated by the American people right now. Looks to me that most of you will NOT be working for us come election time next year.
www.golftipsinsi
Cap and trade has not worked in any country that has adopted it but for one. President B.O.'s plan is simply another tax and means of social engineering.
I find it amazing we have foregone a much broader discussion and jumped to the conclusion that this is the right thing to do.
First the came for the banks,
I remained silent,
I was not a banker,
Then they came for the insurance businesses,
I did not protest,
I was not in the insurance business,
Then they came for the industries,
I remained silent,
I was not an industrialist,
Then they came for my economic freedom and liberty
I found I had no power and no was one left to speak out for me.
This legislation is not clearly defined. It does not have measurable goals, policies or results. Congress does not know how much money it will generate, where it will be spent or what it will do our economy. It is a giant slush fund where graft and corruption will run muck. I scream for the promised transparency and the opportunity to thoroughly study it. Think before we just rush off and give the Progressive Feds more money and power over our lives.
THERE IS NO GLOBAL WARMING. THE ONLY WARMING GOING ON IS ALL THE HOT AIR FROM LIBERALS ON THIS.
Watch this and you will see where we are going. Straight from the horses mouth.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlTxGHn4sH4
From his mouth WITHOUT a teleprompter!
Remember, this is being called the Obama Bill.
The repeal of the 22nd Amendment together with the fact Obama wants to LEGALIZE 30 million ILLEGAL ALIENS to secure their votes, has given GM and Chrysler to the UAW union to secure their votes, has ACORN counting in the 2010 census, and the very close previous elections. Just by the real numbers, the Democrats stand to never lose another election AND have a President for life.
www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=hj111-5
No wonder Obama stood with the likes of Castro, Chavez and Morales supporting the ousted Honduran President.
"Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second article of amendment, thereby removing the limitation on the number of terms an individual may serve as President."
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