DarkStealth

The Carbon Emissions Tax Effect

Here are a few reasons to accept a cap & trade system, from different perspectives. If you don't like one, skip to the next:

1) The climate change scientists are probably right - we need to not destroy our planet's ability to sustain humanity.
1a) Consider Australia - climate change has shifted the rainfall patterns 70 miles south, causing increasing droughts since the 1970's. Read "The Weather Makers".
1b) A lot of the people confused about climate science are thrown off by the effects of our own air pollution on the planet. The US Clean Air Act greatly reduced the amount of soot & other gunk pumped into the atmosphere in the mid-1970's, which turned around a 30 year trend of global cooling, leading to increasingly warmer temperatures for the past 30 years. Now that China is burning more fuels without regulating air pollution, this may be affecting some of the recent data. My money's still with the climate change crowd.
1c) The "polluter pays" principal is the only equitable way to deal with the problem. Yes, this means those of us consuming more may need to pay more. But view it as a fee on a percentage of what you spend, and you have the power to reduce this fee through purchasing different items or changes in behavior.

2) Climate change can be used as a proxy for peak oil, and is currently the clearest motivater to get off fossil fuels. In terms of solutions, there's about an 80% overlap. We need to electrify the transportation grid, and whether you believe it's to stop greenhouse gasses from cooking the planet or to get energy from a non-oil-based fuel to preserve our way of life, it doesn't matter. The solution is the same.
2a) Oil is costing the US economy a ton of money, with a lot of it going to regimes that don't like us much. Keeping that money within the US is much more attractive.
2b) Before anyone brings up Canada's tar sands, ethanol, or US coal extraction rates, please read Richard Heinberg's book "The Party's Over", which talks about the "net energy" extracted from each source. The fossil fuels look much more bleak in this context. (And for those believing in the Russian non-fossil basis for oil, well, I'd love to hear that theory arrive at rates of oil production & at what rate oil raises to an extractable part of the Earth's crust.)
2c) Fossil fuels, especially coal, are just downright dirty. You end up with mercury (a neurotoxin), benzene (causes cancer), and all sorts of other unpleasant chemicals in your air. Plus you get the giant TVA coal sludge disaster flooding small towns & contaminating water supplies, repeated every decade or two.

3) There's an excellent chance that reducing our energy use as a society is inevitable (due to ANY COMBINATION of climate change, peak oil, or simply higher prices from OPEC & Russia). The cheapest way there is to improve energy efficiency, and this is generally more acceptable than conservation (ie, changes in individual behavior). A carbon cap & trade system or a separate carbon tax drives investment towards lowering O&M costs. It saves people money, and the payback period is pretty short on most efficiency measures. This makes financial sense for businesses & homeowners.
3a) Coolest, simplest idea I've heard of in a while: Gravity-film heat exchangers. Use hot water draining out of your shower to warm up cold water going into your hot water tank. Simple & cost-effective - just brilliant.

BTW, to anyone above calling a cap & trade system a carbon tax should be aware that all the economists are pushing for a carbon tax instead of a cap & trade system, because it can't be gamed as much in each state legislature or by Wall Street people buying derivatives on carbon allowances. Please keep a carbon tax and this potentially more cost-effective cap & trade system separate in your discussions.