[lbo-talk] The Planet is Fine

[Fernando Cassia]

On Thu, Dec 22, 2011 at 18:16, nathan tankus
<somekindofheterodox at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> "The mere fact that c&c regulations have a cost does not mean that
> humans respond to them in the same way we would to a tax"
>
> but we're not talking about people responding. we're talking about
> corporations. these entities are infamous for eating fines rather then
> upgrading (Horizon disaster etc). Without jail time for perpetrators
> or fines that hit people personally many corporations are inclined to
> treat it as a cost of doing business if being fined costs less then
> compliance

This is taking things to an extreme, and you guys are missing the
point completely. Of course the sellers of carbon-based technology (ie
diesel powered power plants) would like to continue selling their kit.
*BUT* if you tax such technology high enough, the renewables industry
gets a leg up in the cost-per-kilowatt measurement.

The idea is *NOT* to punish the existing polluting co2 generators but
to make unatractive the idea of Co2 emiting NEW POWER PLANTS, which is
where the "cost per Kw" calculation is done at the COST ANALYSIS phase
of a NEW PROJECT.

Thus, Kyoto works mostly to encourage transition to renewables IN NEW
DEVELOPMENTS. Of course the existing polluters would just pay a fine,
but that´s not where the action is, the action is the continuous
influx of NEW POWER SOURCES added every year to keep up with demand as
industrialization and population expands.

Just my $0.02
FC
-- 
"The purpose of computing is insight, not numbers."
Richard Hamming - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamming_code