Joseph Green quoted a paragraph where I mentioned carbon rationing and feed-in tariffs, and then commented that
> The only measures you mention are market measures. Feed-in tariffs are not based on the free market, instead they generate an artifical market according to non-market criteria. For instance, in Germany, solar panels integrated into buildings get a higher feed-in tariff than free-standing panels (to discourage the use of agricultural land for solar panels), and windmills in areas with little wind get higher feed-in tariffs than areas with high wind (to discourage the formation of windmill ghettos at the coast or on mountain ridges). I think these are the same criteria a socialist goverment would apply. That all this uses a price mechanism is only a formality. (Feed-in tariffs are *very* popular outside the US, they are spreading like wildfire.) Regarding carbon rationing, you say later > the more serious advocates of such things as carbon > rationing and the carbon tax discuss the problem of the > harsh effects of these policies on the masses. Carbon taxes are harsh on lower income people because they raise the price of essentials. Carbon taxes also do not provide a mechanism for the international settlement of carbon debt. This is why I advocate carbon rationing, which lowers fossil energy consumption without distorting prices. I think carbon rationing is generally opposed (and almost unknown outside the UK and Ireland) on two grounds: (1) it is more complicated than a pure price system because for the purchase of energy you not only have to give money but also surrender a part of your carbon rations. (2) equal and tradable carbon rations per person lead to an income distribution from the rich to the poor. Somewhere I said that socialists within the environmental movement must do their homework if they want to be taken seriously ;) > You don't mention the measures of regulation and control. I did mention pure "command and control" measures too, I spoke of the obligatory phasing out of coal-fired power plants. I am also in favor of a ban on tar sands, oil shale, and deep-sea drilling. Such bans don't exist now, but many countries have phased out incandescent light bulbs, and there is a push to ban deep-sea drilling in the arctic. New buildings in Denmark are not allowed to have natural gas heating systems (because the natural gas should better be used for electricity generation), and several countries are now phasing out nuclear. That is the kind of command and control which I support. Hans _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
