More support for some sort of carbon tax arrived today -- this time, in a report from the Conference Board of Canada. It argues that greenhouse gas emissions should no longer be free. Industries and consumers should pay a price for them -- high enough to change behaviour and encourage development of new emissions-cutting technologies.
Presumably, it would make all the things we're discussing in this blog a lot more attractive, since there'd be bigger savings from doing them.
So, the list of conventional, business-related groups that favour green taxes continues to grow. Politically, though, only the Green Party has a strong, specific policy about them.
The Conferemce Board proposal calls, as most others do, for measures to offset the tax, basically making it revenue neutral by cutting other taxes, special transfers to Alberta and other provinces that would take a financial hit, and subsidies to help low-income people.
We'd like to know what you think: Are green taxes a good way to get lower emissions?
Green taxes or surcharges are an important tool in a transition strategy, no doubt about it. The keys to a successful green tax are 1) visibility (make it clear that this is a penalty for overconsumption 2) connectivity (the surcharge needs to be linked to transition strategies and subsidies for conservation) and 3) fairness (the ability to address inequities such as the impact on low-income groups or trades).
Posted by: Chris Winter | January 31, 2008 at 11:16 PM
Earth Hour is a good opportunity to make us aware of energy solutions that can work.
A blanket carbon tax is not advisable but is best when there is a zero emission alternative. A gas tax seems like punishing drivers because vehicle manufacturers refuse to make an electric vehicle even though, when California threatened to legislate it, six showed that they could. A tax on electricity seems like punishing us because McGuinty broke his promise to close the coal fired plants even though enhanced geothermal, as advised by the MIT, seems a practical alternative. A carbon tax on home heating fuels when not even the PST applies? Actually, this one makes sense because there is an established alternative.
A ground source heat pump (GSHP) runs on electricity but is more than three times as efficient as either electricity alone or a gas furnace because it uses its energy to move heat from the earth into your house instead of using its energy to create heat anew. Schools may raise money to install sexy solar panels but a GSHP would be far more effective, it just gets little respect when hidden in the basement. Similarly, a hybrid garbage truck is more effective than a hybrid city bus but the latter is sexier.
Earth Hour is advertised as a little self sacrifice that is good for the environment. It seems a little too much like a diet, surely well known that they don't work, with most people rewarding themselves after for their effort, overly so. A GSHP is often thought to be too expensive with a payback period of about 20 years, but how many of us buy GICs with a lower rate of return? The better sacrifice is an investment with decent returns, financial as well as environmental.
A caveat: The August power blackout of a few years ago lasted so long because the sudden initial drop in demand forced power plants to shut down and it took Pickering several days to come back on line. Could this happen again with Earth Hour?? I guess we could always replace the lost power by burning more coal for a few days but that would kind of defeat the purpose, no?
On a personal note: I eat vegetarian only, drive only about 3000 Km per year, converted my 70 % efficient oil furnace to a 93 % efficient gas furnace about 2 years ago (since then, the price of a GSHP has dropped by half), added a bit more insulation, yes I replaced a few incandescent bulbs with CFLs,
and use fans in the summer (sleep in the basement on really hot days) instead of an air conditioner.
Posted by: Bill Livingstone | March 11, 2008 at 06:45 PM
Sept 6, 2008
Canadian automakers responded with great enthusiasm to yesterday's decision by General Motors to compost its gas-guzzling business model and close four pickup truck and SUV plants - a unilateral gesture of good will towards the environment that will result in 10,000 lost jobs.
The automaker communities are widely celebrating the event with eco-friendly block parties, Earth fairs, outdoor concerts of New Age music, drum circles in the wilderness, meditations, body painting, and unrhymed poetry readings that venerate the earth as a living, spiritual being that feels pain when it is bring drilled for oil.
Posted by: Kirk Doward | September 06, 2008 at 09:24 PM