Friday, December 28, 2007

The FeeBate Debate

The best way to deal with global warming is a FeeBate policy. This works fast and effectively, is ideology- and budget-neutral and has the least risk of feeding a wasteful bureaucracy.

In essence, a Greenhouse Gases
FeeBate policy will impose a fee on products that cause emissions of greenhouse gases, while the proceeds of these fees will in each case be used to help better alternatives, in the form of rebates.

In many respects, markets are best suited to work out which products and technologies should get support through rebates - the main criteria should be that they are replacements for the item that attracted the fee, that they are safe and that they cause little or no emissions of greenhouse
gases, or - even better - that they are greenhouse gas negative.

The FeeBate policy should be adopted globally, but
executed locally; levels of fees and rebates can be adjusted on an annual basis, depending on how successfully the shift takes place. Fees can be collected on items that are sold locally, or - if necessary - fees can be imposed on imported items.

The FeeBate policy that I propose includes:
  • a fee of 10% on sales of new cars with internal combustion engines, with proceeds used to fund rebates for electric cars
  • a fee of 10% on sales of gasoline, with proceeds used to fund rebates on purchases and installation of facilities that produce renewable energy
  • a fee of 10% on sales of coal, with rebates given when electricity suppliers install facilities that produce electricity from renewable sources
  • a fee of 10% on building and construction work using concrete that contributes to global warming, with proceeds used to fund rebates on buildings that used clean concrete
  • a fee of 10% on sales of fertilizers, with rebates on sales of agrichar, which is produced by means of pyrolysis from various forms of biowaste
  • a fee of 10% on sales of meat, with rebates and vouchers for alternative food (my personal favorite: vegan-organic food served in restaurants in communities without roads)

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Wild Green Yonder

Boeing recently announced that it will have a hydrogen plane in the air later this year. The Boeing Fuel Cell Demonstrator Airplane is scheduled to fly at an altitude of about 2,000 feet (610 meters). The plane has a wing span of 16.3 meters (53.5 feet) and can fly at a speed of about 100 kilometers (62 miles) per hour.

The technology is identical to what is used in hydrogen cars such as the Ford HySeries, GM's HydroGen4 and Kia's 4×4 Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle, i.e. tanks holding hydrogen in the form of compressed gas, fuel cells, lithium-ion batteries and electric motors, in the case of this plane a single motor coupled to a conventional propeller.

Just like cars can (and already are) getting their electricity and hydrogen from the solar panels on top of parking lots, planes could similarly be powered from clean energy, such as from solar or wind power facilities in our backyards.

Boeing first announced the electric plane project in November 2001, when it said the first test flights could begin in early 2004. At the time, there was even speculation that the first flight would coincide with the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers first powered flight back in December 17th, 2003. Those plans have since been pushed back several times, but it now looks like it is finally going to happen.

Planes like this have the potential to reshape the face of the world. Imagine if we all used personal aircraft instead of cars. We no longer needed any roads, nor large, noisy airports. Instead we could use small airstrips to take off and land, perhaps in our backyards.

Communities without roads constitute a dramatic change in urban design. Houses could be smaller, as there's no need to put cars in garages. Without roads, houses could also be built much closer together - that in itself could reduce travel time. Simple pathways would be sufficient, connecting all such houses with a center comprising of shops, restaurants, medical specialists, lecture theaters, all within walking distance. Imagine the cost savings on cars, roads, bridges, tunnels, airports, railway tracks and railway stations, on gasoline and service stations. People could largely work from home and meet at facilities of the center closeby, resulting in further savings on office buildings and their car parking facilities.

There would also be huge time savings; given an abundance of small landing strips, planes could take us in a more direct line from one place to another, as opposed to the congested road system where cars line up for a multitude of traffic lights. GPS-navigation and radar technology could also result in a spectacular drop in traffic accidents; after all, there is much more space in the (three-dimensional) sky than on the (two-dimensional) ground.

To help such developments take off, we need to tax items that cause greenhouse gas emissions, such as fossil fuel, meat and fertilizers, with the tax proceeds going to local supply of better alternatives, such as solar and wind power, agrichar and vegan-organic food served in restaurants in communities without roads.


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References:
Into the Wild Green Yonder - Boeing’s super-clean fuel-cell aircraft will create history this year with aviation’s first zero-emissions flight
http://www.boeing.com/news/frontiers/archive/2007/july/ts_sf06.pdf

Boeing's fuel cell-powered electric demonstrator airplane - August 2003
http://www.boeing.com/news/frontiers/archive/2003/august/i_atw.html

Boeing Announces Partners for Fuel Cell Demonstrator Airplane Project - July 11, 2003
http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2003/q3/nr_030711p.html

The Hydrogen Economy - articles featured in this group
http://www.gather.com/viewArticles.jsp?filter=feature&grpId=3659174697249995&nav=Groupspace

Change the World - articles featured in this group
http://www.gather.com/viewArticles.jsp?filter=feature&grpId=3659174697250134&nav=Groupspace

Solar-Hydrogen Demo Project in Sacramento - by Steve B.
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977163811

Tax the sale of meat! - by Sam Carana
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977123673

Agrichar - by Sam Carana
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977155102

Communities without roads - by Sam Carana
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977128488

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Agrichar

Most households only use one or at most two different rubbish bins, one for recyclables (paper & packaging) and one for general waste. It makes a lot of sense to add a third type of rubbish bin, for biowaste, i.e. kitchen waste, soil and garden waste.

Many people already compost such biowaste in the garden, but all too often such biowaste disappears along with the general waste in the rubbish bin. As displayed on the picture below, analysis in Waikato, New Zealand, shows that about half of household waste can consist of kitchen waste, soil and garden waste. Such waste ends up on rubbish tips, where the decomposing process leads to greenhouse gases, such as methane. And all too often, farmers burn crop residues on the land, resulting in huge emissions of greenhouse gases.

All such biowaste could deliver affordable energy by using the slow burning process of pyrolysis to produce agrichar or bio-char, a form of charcoal that is totally black. Organic material, when burnt with air, will normally turn into white ash, while the carbon contained in the biowaste goes up into the air as carbon dioxide (CO2). In case of pyrolysis, by contrast, biowaste is heated up while starved of oxygen, resulting in this black form of charcoal.

This agrichar was at first glance regarded as a useless byproduct when producing hydrogen from biowaste, but it is increasingly recognized for its qualities as a soil supplement. Agrichar makes the soil better retain water and nutrients for plants, thus reducing losses of nutrients and reducing the CO2 that goes out of the soil, while enhancing soil productivity and making it store more carbon.

When biowaste is normally added to soil, the carbon contained in crop residue, mulch and compost is likely to stay there for only two or three years. By contrast, the more stable carbon in agrichar can stay in the soil for hundreds of years. Adding agrichar just once could be equivalent to composting the same weight every year for decades.

Agrichar appears to be the best way to bury carbon in topsoil, resulting in soil restoration and improved agriculture. Agrichar has the potential to remove substantial amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere, as it both buries carbon in the soil and gets more CO2 out of the atmosphere through better growth of vegetation. Agrichar restores soils and increases fertility. It results in plants taking more CO2 out of the atmosphere, which ends up in the soil and in the vegetation. Agrichar feeds new life in the soil and increases respiration, leading to improvements in soil structure, specifically its capacity to retain water and nutrients. Agrichar makes the soil structure more porous, with lots of surface area for water and nutrients to hold onto, so that both water and nutrients are better retained in the soil.

In conclusion, recycling biowaste in the above way is an excellent method to produce hydrogen (e.g. for cars) and to bury carbon in the soil and improve production of food. Agrichar is now produced for soil enrichment at a growing number of places. The top photo shows agrichar in pellet form from Eprida. Australian-based BEST Energies has built a demonstration pyrolysis plant with a capacity to process 300 kilograms of biowaste per hour. It accepts biowaste such as dry green waste, wood waste, rice hulls, cow and poultry manure or paper mill waste. The plant cooks the biomass without oxygen, producing syngas, a flammable mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The agrichar thus produced retains about half the carbon of the original biowaste (the other half was burned in the process of producing the syngas).

Also important is to compare different farming practices. Carbon is important for holding the soil together. Farmers now typically plough the soil to plant the seeds and add fertilizers. This ploughing causes oxygen to mix with the carbon in the soil, resulting in oxidation, which releases CO2 into the atmosphere. Ploughing leads to a looser soil structure, prone to erosion under the destructive impact of heavy rains, flooding, thunderstorms, wind and animal traffic. Given the more extreme weather that can be expected due to global warming, we should reconsider practices such as ploughing.

Furthermore, the huge monocultures of modern farming have become dependent on fertilizers and pesticides. The separation of farming and urban areas has in part become necessary due to the practice of spraying chemicals and pesticides. Instead, we should consider growing more food on smaller-scale farms, in gardens and greenhouses within areas currently designated for urban usage. Vegan-organic farming can increase bio-diversity; by carefully selecting complementary vegetation to grow close together, diseases and pests can be minimized while the nutritial value, taste and other qualities of the food can be increased.

An issue of growing concern is nitrous oxide (N2O), which is 310 times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas when released in the atmosphere. Much release of N2O is related to the practices of ploughing and adding fertilizers to the soil. Microbes subsequently convert the nitrogen in these fertilisers into N2O. A recent study led by Nobel prize-winning chemist Paul Crutzen indicates that the current ways of growing and burning biofuel actually raise rather than lower greenhouse gas emissions. The study concludes that growing some of the most commonly used biofuel crops (rapeseed biodiesel and corn bioethanol) releases twice the amount of N2O, compared to what the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates for farming. The findings follow a recent OECD report that concluded that growing biofuel crops threatens to cause food shortages and damage biodiversity, with only limted benefits in terms of global warming.

All this is no trivial matter. Soils contain more carbon than all vegetation and the atmosphere combined. Therefore, soil is the obvious place to look at when trying to solve problems associated with global warming. By changing agricultural practices, we can add carbon to the soil and can minimize release of greenhouse gases.

References:
- Soils offer new hope as carbon sink
http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/research/updates/issues/may-2007/soils-offer-new-hope/

- Surprise: less oxygen could be just the trick
http://tinyurl.com/ywalt4

- What we throw away
http://www.waikato.govt.nz/enviroinfo/waste/whatwethrowaway.htm

- The Carbon Farmers
http://www.abc.net.au/science/features/soilcarbon/

- Living Soil
http://www.championtrees.org/topsoil/

- BEST Pyrolysis, Inc.
http://www.bestenergies.com/companies/bestpyrolysis.html

- Eprida, Inc.
http://eprida.com/hydro/

- Biofuels could boost global warming, finds study
http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2007/September/21090701.asp

- Biofuels: is the cure worse than the disease?
http://tinyurl.com/yq9t8o

More Wind Power!

Globally, wind power generation more than quadrupled between 2000 and 2006. But while wind power is making steady progress in Europe, the U.S. gets less than 1% of its electricity from wind power,

Spain now gets 9% percent of its electricity from wind power, with turbines generating 44% of electricity in the province of Navarra. In Germany turbines generate 7% of electricity, 36% in the coastal state of Sleswig-Holstein. In Denmark, wind turbines produced an average of 18.5% of electricity in 2004. Denmark aims to have 50% of its electricity demand supplied by wind turbines in 2025.

So, are the Danes wrong, or is the US public being fed the wrong ideas? Those with vested interests in the status quo have gone to extraordinary lengths to fabricate arguments against clean technologies such as hydrogen and wind power. They claim that wind power was unreliable as the wind does not blow continuously. Indeed, the contribution of wind power fluctuates with the wind, so when it is windy, the contribution of wind power can increase. On September 15th, a particularly windy day, wind turbines accounted for 70% of Denmark's electricity measured around midday. On windy nights, Denmark transfers excess electricity along interconnected grids into Germany and Sweden.

Wind power works best in combination with other technologies, such as solar and hydro-power. Furthermore, electricity can be stored in many ways, such as by pumping water back uphill. Do wind turbines make too much noise? Virtually noiseless systems can be installed in your backyard. Storage of water, heat and electricity can result in huge savings. For household hot water usage, there are low-tech thermal solar systems that heat up domestic water tanks, requiring no electricity. Many other 'low-tech' alternatives are being tested for use in developing countries, such as flywheels, springs and weights. Mobile phone and other electronic devices can be powered by hand cranks.

Using more advanced technologies, electricity from wind turbines can be stored by compressing or heating substances in tanks. One of the most promising ways to store surplus wind power is by producing hydrogen. Hydrogen can be stored under pressure in tanks, to provide fuel for industrial or domestic use or in cars, all without creating pollution. As discussed in more detail in an earlier article, electric vehicles can also run on Lithium-ion batteries that can be recharged from the solar panels on top of the roofs under which they are parked.

Anyway, more electric cars means that we need to generate more electricity, and wind power is one of the easiest and cleanest ways to do so. We can choose the times when best to recharge the batteries or produce the necessary hydrogen, so we can do so when it's windy and when there's little further demand, so it will take little or no electricity away from other usage. Look at it this way and claims that wind power was unreliable and that hydrogen was inefficient do not hold.

Once you look at the wider picture of a mix of technologies, the 'problems' that opponents of wind energy and hydrogen like to bring up will quickly evaporate. Similarly, many perceived problems are purely the result of the way the power grid is currently organized. A more distributed and intelligent system will allow a multitude of points to act as suppliers, with net-metering allowing households to earn money for feeding surplus electricity from their wind turbines back into the grid.

Oh, and do wind turbines kill birds? Does nuclear radiation kill birds? A recently completed Danish study using infrared monitoring found that seabirds steer clear of offshore wind turbines and are remarkably adept at avoiding the rotors.

Wind power does deserve more attention and should get more marketshare, while the share of fossil fuel should be reduced. The quickest and most effective way to achieve this is by taxing fossil fuel and using the proceeds to subsidize supply of wind power and other clean and renewable alternatives.

References:

- 50% Wind Power in Denmark in 2025
- On a windy night, Denmark exports elctricity
- European wind power companies grow in U.S.
- Wind power
- Massive Offshore Wind Turbines Safe for Birds
- Solar power and electric cars, a winning combination!
- Tax greenhouse gas emissions!

Communities without Roads

Posted at Gather on September 26, 2007.

Communities without roads is an exciting concept that allows people to live within walking distances of colleages, customers, friends, medical and educational facilities, shops, restaurants, etc. The sedentary lifestyle of many people is a result of the way cities are currently designed. Instead, we should facilitate the opposite, i.e. people coming out of their houses, offices, and especially their cars, in order to meet other people, getting better food and becoming more healthy in the process.

The car has come to dominate the urban landscape, resulting in a metropolitan conglomeration of suburbs, stringed together along highways. Our most fertile land is now used for roads and cars, and the industries needed to support them. About half the urban area is for buildings, mainly three-bedroom homes on small blocks of land. The other half is used for roads, parks and grassland between roads. A large part of roads, buildings and gardens is also used to park cars.

Ever less fertile land is available food. Global warming forces us to rethink all this. As prices of oil skyrocket, more land is being dedicated to grow bio-fuel, resulting in less land available for food. Also, more extreme weather conditions can be expected, resulting in increasing crop loss.

We need more land to grow fruit and vegetables, in ways as was once the case in traditional gardens and on smaller farms. One place to find such land is by converting roads and office blocks into gardens. This doesn't mean a return to those ‘good-old-days’ of small towns and villages. Instead, we should consider an entirely new type of urban design: communities without roads. Technological progress is not the enemy here. Better security and communication systems can help get such communities off the ground. Electric vehicles can be instrumental in getting such communities off the ground.

What I propose are communities with footpaths and bike-paths instead of roads. Houses would be built close together, around a local center of shops and restaurants. In communities without roads, houses could be smaller, since there's no need to park cars in front or in garages. Building houses close together itself reduces travel distances between them. Pathways to a nearby center could suffice for further daily travel, leading to shops, markets, restaurants, lecture and meeting rooms.

In such a center, people would conveniently eat in restaurants, without traffic and parking hassle and noise - just a short stroll by foot or ride on a bike or in an electric scooter. Eating out means less shopping, since food makes up most of our shopping. It also saves a lot of time - no more shopping, cooking, dishwashing and cleaning, no rubbish to get rid of. Walking more would be good for our health as well.

Living closer together means people could see each other more often, both at home or at such a nearby restaurant. Why travel to an office or University, when you can work or follow courses online? Homeschooling has long proven to be much more effective than school. Why should people be institutionalized, kids packed away into school, the elderly people into ‘homes’ and the sick in hospitals? Instead, we should encourage families to stay together as much as possible and as long as possible in communities without roads.

This would result in huge savings on the current cost of cars, roads, office buildings, car parks, garages, gasoline stations, etc. How much time and money could we save by reducing our daily travel between home and work? And how many lives would be saved if we had less car-accidents? Because of the shared walls between them, townhouses save on the cost of heating in winter and cooling in summer.

To start it off, a University campus could be transformed into a community without roads, where people live and come to learn and work. Anyone who would like to nominate one?

Communities without Roads

Extract from a post by Libertaria, January 23, 2005. 

Have a look at the Segway and imagine it - communities without roads! Instead of driving a car, just walk to your local restaurants or meeting places. Also have a look at the iBot which is great for people who need wheelchairs - because it can climb stairs it gives easy access to many places. How about letting everyone who needed it use an iBot, instead of pouring money into improving wheelchair access to buildings?

Think about it! About half the urban area is taken up by roads and greenstrips between roads. A substantial part of roads, buildings and gardens is also used to park cars. Without cars and roads, we could live closer together; that would be great for people who complement each other in one way or another; they could live closer to each other and see each other more often. Instead of working in an office, we could do most things from home. In fact, you could work anywhere. The cell-phone motto appears to be: anything, anywhere, anytime! The same goes for learning. Why go to University, when you can follow courses online? Homeschooling has long proven to be much more effective than school.

In communities without roads, urban design could be changed dramatically! Houses could be smaller, as there's no need to put cars in garages. Without roads, houses could also be built much closer together - that in itself could reduce travel time. Simple pathways would be sufficient! Imagine it: communities without roads, bridges, tunnels, airports, railway tracks and railway stations! Such a new lifestyle could result in huge savings on cars, roads, office buildings, car-parks, garages, petrol stations, etc. How much time and money could we save by reducing our daily travel between home and work? And how many lives would be saved if we had less car-accidents?

Security systems can further help avoiding hostilities between people. Solar-powered motion sensors can trigger floodlights and alarms, which in combination with cameras can enhance security and lower health risks. Why not use satellites and interconnected WiFi LANs, instead of Cable-TV and phone lines? Mobile phones and GPS-technology can make great contributions towards our safety and security. All such devices need ever less power, while new technologies extend the usage-time of rechargeable batteries. If we used more GPS-enabled devices, motion detectors and surveillence cameras, we could increase safety and security in and around the home, thus requiring less emergency services.

Currently, the most fertile land is taken for urban use, most of it for roads and gardens (with grass as the dominant crop). With more land available for hobby farming, growing fruit and vegetables could be cheaper and the cost of food could come down dramatically. In a new urban design, houses could be built around restaurants and meeting places. People can more easily go out to eat in restaurants, because there's no traffic and parking hassle, it's just a short stroll or ride on the Segway instead. Many restaurants have embraced wireless services, so take a notebook with you and you're really connected for a business lunch! Or, take a Tablet PC and use a stylus to scribble down your notes and share them! Eating out means less shopping, since food makes up most of our shopping. It also saves a lot of time - no more shopping, cooking, dishwashing and cleaning, no rubbish to get rid of. 
Related comments posted earlier
Libertaria - Communities without roads - January 23, 2005 

Perhaps such communities could be built as a University campus, an old-folks resort or holiday retreat, where people could came to visit and have an apartment or second home or so. It will have to be in a nice climate, because if it's too cold or rainy, people will want to use cars. Deserts are therefore good places to start up such communities, there's also a need to preserve water, there's plenty of sun for solar energy and there's no urban infrastructure to start with as it's so remote. 
Deborah - Communities without roads - January 24, 2005 

I think we should seriously consider banning all cars that create pollution and greenhouse gasses. Furthermore, we'll need to look at alternatives to burning coal to generate electricity. We need to look at alternative ways to generate energy. 
Sam Carana - Communities without roads - January 27, 2005 

Banning cars doesn't necessarily mean prohibiting them legally. Simply putting up "no access"-signs would still require police, courts, fines, even prisons. That means extra cost and trouble, which could indeed be politically unacceptable. Cars could instead be banned by default, e.g. people could decide to stop using cars if they became too expensive, compared to alternatives. Or, people could decide to stop using cars because of the environmental damage. What I like about the idea of Communities without Roads is that cars can effectively be banned (from the inner community) by designing communities without roads. Building houses closer together effectively keeps cars out without the need for police, etc. 

It's done before in the inner city where cars are banned from the main shopping street, which is turned into a pedestrian-only area, if necessary by putting up poles. The same for shopping malls, university campus, festivals, etc. Some area definitely see an economic and social benefit in keeping out cars altogether. Instead of applying this to a small area only, we should look at applying it to entire communities. 
Sam Carana - Communities without roads - January 28, 2005 

[We should] plan communities without roads and with footpaths and bikepaths instead. Plan houses close together, around a local center of shops and restaurants. Redesign existing cities so that people have to travel less. 
Sam Carana - Ten Recommendations to deal with global warming - April 8, 2007 

We should start building such communities without roads on university campuses, designing small houses for staff and students to live around shops and restaurants. Small houses need less heating and air-conditioning. If we leave out roads, garages and other car-parking spaces, they can be built closely together, so anyone can easily walk or bike their way around. That would be more healthy as well! 
Sam Carana - Ten Recommendations to deal with global warming - April 9, 2007 

I propose one tax specifically on supply of energy that adds extra heat. What I want to avoid is that the proceeds of this tax go back to the polluter, e.g. in the form of tax deductions or subsidies for capture and sequestration. Also, I don't want the proceeds to be used to subsidize higher energy bills of the poor, as that would defeat its purpose - after all, if the rich can afford to pay the tax and if the proceeds help to poor to pay higher bills, then there will be little or no benefits in terms of global warming. Therefore, I propose that proceeds of this tax will be used exclusively to subsidize supply of energy that doesn't add extra heat. 

Furthermore, I propose a tax on sales of meat. This tax should be used to support environmentally-friendly developments, such as communities without roads. I propose communities without roads and with footpaths and bikepaths instead. Houses would be built close together, around a local center of shops and restaurants. Existing cities could be redesigned so that people have to travel less. The tax on the sales of meat could be used to create such communities, e.g. by supporting vegetarian restaurants, bicycle shops and other environmentally-friendly outlets in such communities. Anyway, such communities could incorporate wind turbines and devices like Klaus Lackner's artificial trees, in which case they could be supported by proceeds of the tax on meat.

We should seriously reconsider public transport, in fact, we should look at redesigning the entire way cities are built. Many people go by car to the railway station, because they live too far from the station to walk. Look at how many cars are parked around any suburban railway station! All the space needed for car parking further isolates railway stations from the houses around them, just like railway tracks and highways cut up communities into isolated parts. 

Already now, a taxi can be much more efficient than public transport, since buses and trains follow a set route, stopping only at set points. Many buses and trains remain virtually empty at off-peak hours, consuming huge amounts of energy in vain. Many people avoid public transport for the long waiting in inhospitable environments with high crime risks and lack of service. If taxi services were deregulated, there would be far less need for public transport. 
The idea of communities without roads is that there is very little need for public transport, but it doesn't mean that people are locked up inside their homes. Terms like homeschooling and working from home may give that false impression. In fact, most homeschoolers I know love to go out (e.g. to see other homeschoolers) and they are more outdoors than kids who go to school. Similarly, working from home means that one spends less time commuting, time that can be spent at exhibitions, conferences, in restaurants, shops, etc. New technology more and more allows people to work when and where they want, while greater efficiencies mean that one can achieve more results in less time.
Also, many people are currently locked up inside their homes because they have nowhere to go. This is especially a problem for elderly people who are afraid to drive a car and who are afraid to walk the empty streets in the suburbs. Town planners have designed urban nightmares, with most activities centralised in specialized buildings, e.g. medical care and education preserved for schools and hospitals. Shopping is concentrated in malls and most offices are centralized in the CBD of each city. This kind of design and zoning results in suburbs stretching out further and further along railway lines that bring people daily into the city. Suburban houses are occupied by few people during the day, people literally go there to sleep.
Communities without roads is an exciting concept that allows people to live within walking distances of colleagues, customers, friends, medical and educational facilities, shops, restaurants, etc. Again, this doesn't mean people are to be locked up inside. The sedentary lifestyle of many people is a result of the way cities are currently designed. Instead, we should facilitate the opposite, i.e. people coming out of their houses, offices, etc, meeting other people, getting more healthy food and becoming fitter.
Sam Carana - Ten Recommendations to deal with global warming - April 28, 2007  
The car has come to dominate the urban landscape, resulting in a metropolitan conglomeration of suburbs, stringed together along highways. Our most fertile land is now used for roads and cars, and the industries needed to support them. About half the urban area is for buildings, mainly three-bedroom homes on small blocks of land. The other half is used for roads, parks and grassland between roads. A large part of roads, buildings and gardens is also used to park cars.
Ever less fertile land is available food. Global warming forces us to rethink all this. As prices of oil skyrocket, more land is being dedicated to grow bio-fuel, resulting in less land available for food. Also, more extreme weather conditions can be expected, resulting in increasing crop loss.
We need more land to grow fruit and vegetables, in ways as was once the case in traditional gardens and on smaller farms. One place to find such land is by converting roads and office blocks into gardens. This doesn't mean a return to those ‘good-old-days’ of small towns and villages. Instead, we should consider an entirely new type of urban design: communities without roads. Technological progress is not the enemy here. Better security and communication systems can help get such communities off the ground. Electric vehicles can be instrumental in getting such communities off the ground.
What I propose are communities with footpaths and bike-paths instead of roads. Houses would be built close together, around a local center of shops and restaurants. In communities without roads, houses could be smaller, since there's no need to park cars in front or in garages. Building houses close together itself reduces travel distances between them. Pathways to a nearby center could suffice for further daily travel, leading to shops, markets, restaurants, lecture and meeting rooms. 
In such a center, people would conveniently eat in restaurants, without traffic and parking hassle and noise - just a short stroll by foot or ride on a bike or in an electric scooter. Eating out means less shopping, since food makes up most of our shopping. It also saves a lot of time - no more shopping, cooking, dishwashing and cleaning, no rubbish to get rid of. Walking more would be good for our health as well.
Living closer together means people could see each other more often, both at home or at such a nearby restaurant. Why travel to an office or University, when you can work or follow courses online? Homeschooling has long proven to be much more effective than school. Why should people be institutionalized, kids packed away into school, the elderly people into ‘homes’ and the sick in hospitals? Instead, we should encourage families to stay together as much as possible and as long as possible in communities without roads.
This would result in huge savings on the current cost of cars, roads, office buildings, car parks, garages, gasoline stations, etc. How much time and money could we save by reducing our daily travel between home and work? And how many lives would be saved if we had less car-accidents? Because of the shared walls between them, townhouses save on the cost of heating in winter and cooling in summer.
To start it off, a University campus could be transformed into a community without roads, where people live and come to learn and work. Anyone who would like to nominate one?
Sam Carana - Communities without roads - September 26, 2007
The sprawling suburbs syndrom: daily commuting for more than an hour, neighborhoods without pedestrians and neighbors who don't know each other, yet who try to outdo each other regarding the number of bedrooms and toilets in their mansions and the number of cars that fit inside their garages, while in between the concreted driveways the dominant crop is grass.

Instead, a few thousand people could each have most of the facilities they need close by, i.e. within walking distance from where they live. People who wanted to could have gardens and grow fruit and vegetables, to be sold at markets in the local center. Such centers could cater for a few thousand people who live around such a center, with distances short enough for everyone to be able to walk or use bicycles or scooters, without needing any roads. Indeed, the absence of raods and cars makes that people can live close together. Yet, those centers could be interconnected by road, rail, boat or plane. Visiting another center would be quite different from the daily commuting we see now happen. Many people now sit in the car for more than an hour daily, to go to work, to do shopping, for meals and entertainment. Life very much evolves around cars and roads.

The way cities and suburbs have grown isn't the result of some natural law of urban growth, James, but it's the result of some very specific planning based on principles that now look pretty much outdated in many respects. There's nothing wrong with reconsidering those principles, James, and to try out some new configurations and designs that could work much better in the light of peak oil, health and obesity, social coherence, demographic changes, etc, etc, and of course global warming with all its consequences that are yet to make their full impact.
Sam Carana - comment to: Communities without roads - October 11, 2007

Tax the sale of meat!

There are many ethical objections one can have against slaughtering animals and eating them. Vegetarian lifestyles have been around for ages, just like animal rights activists have long and very publicly protested against animals being used in tests of new cosmetics in laboratoria.

Consumption of red meat from cattle, sheep, goats and other ruminants has long been linked to heart disease, colorectal cancer and further diseases.
http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/70/3/525S
http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/148/8/761.pdf
The link between meat and obesity has only recently received much media attention, with a focus on the fat and sugar content of fast food.

Similarly, environmentalists have long protested against the loss of biodiversity, as rainforests are cleared to make room for cattle or for soy plantations to feed cattle, all to satisfy global demand for meat.

Now meat has also been linked to global warming in various ways. As the impact of global warming starts to bite, many crops are at risk, due to more extreme weather conditions such as floods, drouhts, storms, heavy rain and moisture. It takes a lot of fertile land to put meat on the table, land that could otherwise be used to grow crops top feed the poor and hungry. At the same time, energy suppliers are increasingly looking at using bio-mass as a replacement for fossil fuel, so food is increasingly competing with energy in agriculture.

Finally, animals like cows and pigs release huge amounts of methane gas, which is twenty times more potent than greenhouse gas as carbon dioxide. A recent study led by Anthony McMichael, professor at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at the Australian National University, Canberra, provides some figures. It points out that 22 per cent of the world's total greenhouse gases emissions come from agriculture, as much as industry and more than what transport emits. Production and transport of livestock and their feed accounts for nearly 80 per cent of these agricultural emissions, through release of gases such as nitro-oxide and carbon dioxide, but mainly in the form of methane. A cow can belch up to 300 pounds of methane per day. The study was published by the Lancet, at:
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673600025642/abstract

Before you try and find more details, note that the Lancet has an elaborate registration process demanding that you name your medical specialty and probably at somepoint your blood type, so if you prefer to bypass such things, you can try BugMeNot, at:
http://www.bugmenot.com/view/www.thelancet.com

In conclusion, a tax on the sale of meat therefore makes most sense. We could leave it up to politics to work out how high such a tax should be, but a flat 10% tax on all sales of meat looks like a good start. The tax could be higher the more methane was released, which would go hand in hand with compulsory disclosure on products of the amount of greenhouse gases that was needed to produce and ship them. Once we've got a good system in place that displays how many greenhouse gases were released in production, we could tax accordingly. There could be different tax rates, even a gliding scale proportional to the emissions. This would encourage research into different diets for cows or somehow replacing the methane-producing bacteria inside a cow's gut.

If the proceeds of such a tax merely used to help the poor pay rising prices for food, then little will be achieved for the environment. Instead, the proceeds of such a tax should be used to create communities without roads, where people can have vegetable gardens close to their homes. We should start building such communities without roads on university campuses, designing small houses for staff and students to live around shops and restaurants. Small houses need less heating and air-conditioning. If we leave out roads, garages and other car-parking spaces, they can be built closely together, so anyone can easily walk or bike their way around. That would be more healthy as well!

Anyway, it makes a lot of sense to turn vegetarian, or even better vegan. Even if you didn't have ethical problems with eating meat and if you lacked compassion for the poor and hungry, you still would help the environment by becoming a vegetarian and thus yourself!

Monday, September 17, 2007

The Hydrogen Economy

Hydrogen fuel cells constitute an efficient way to store energy and as such they form an important component in our struggle to contain global warming. Hydrogen fuel cells are a convenient and clean way to power cars and supply electricity on demand virtually everywhere. The importance of hydrogen as a technology is huge, as it constitutes the clean and renewable storage compliment to clean and renewable ways to capture energy, such as solar, wind, geothermal, wave and hydro-power.

The Hydrogen Economy is much more than that; it promises to change the fabric of our society. Hydrogen, holds the promise to break up the current cartel of energy suppliers that works hand-in-glove with a military-industrial complex that holds the entire world in a suffocating stranglehold. Hydrogen can clean things up and set the economy free. Hydrogen is the elixer that can remedy our polluting habits to create a better society, without the monopolies, the pollution, the taxes, regulations and the military controls that come with the current ways of supplying energy. Currently, energy is largely obtained from sources that centralize the economy around a single supplier, such as a huge nuclear plant or coal-powered plant. Similarly, oil is pumped up under monopoly conditions and transported in huge tankers, which has created these allmighty oil companies that extend their grip over society through services stations and political lobbying to keep cars polluting the world.

We should look forward to a world in which anyone can capture energy for free in their backyards, from renewable power sources such as solar, wind, geothermal and hydro-power. This energy can be directly stored in fuel cells that are built into heating and cooling systems of buildings, lights, TV-sets, stereo equipment, computers, cars, mowers, scooters, power tools, etc. Wherever you now see rechargeable Lithion batteries used, such as in mobile phones, think hydrogen and you'll get a preview of the bright future that awaits us. Hydrogen fuel cells will enable us to cut the wires through which the puppetmaster controls us now. Hydrogen fuel cells hold the promise to set us free. Let's take a serious effort to give this technology a chance!

Friday, September 14, 2007

The Future is Electric Cars!

Who killed the electric car? It's an excellent documentary video, a must see! It was released on DVD to the home video market on November 14, 2006.
http://earthissues.multiply.com/video/item/16http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Killed_the_Electric_Car%3F

There's more great footage at the Earth Issues website, such as a race between an electric car called the X1 against a Ferrari and a Porsche, and underwater recharging of an GM EV1 battery. http://earthissues.multiply.com/video/item/14
http://earthissues.multiply.com/video/item/15

The electric car dates back to the 1830s, when Robert Anderson of Scotland invented the first crude electric carriage. Around 1900, electric cars outsold all other types of cars in America. Why? Because they did not have the vibration, smell and noise of gasoline cars and required neither gear changes to drive nor much manual effort to start (as with the hand crank on gasoline cars). The only good roads then were downtown and most car travel was local, perfect for slow electric vehicles with a limited range.

Now it's time to reinvent the electric car, for its convenience and for the positive contribution it can make in terms of the environment and global warming. Solar power and electric cars is a winning combination. Let me explain. Wind and solar power is not continuous, and this is where car batteries can help out, by storing electricity at times of high supply, to feed electricity back into the grid when supply is low. I can well imagine car batteries both drawing and feeding power to/from the grid at night. Intelligent net metering will assist with this.

How much solar power is needed for all this electricity? How much surface does it take to supply solar energy? The following URL displays an image with red squares showing how much surface needs to be covered in theory by solar power facilities to generate enough electricity to meet the entire demand of respectively the World, Europe (EU-25) and Germany.

 edited from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desertec - image origin, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Fullneed.jpg

In fact, "how much surface" should be rephrased into "how little surface". Solar power alone could well provide enough energy for both our current electricity needs and can supply the additional energy needs to run our cars as well. Indeed, cars need not be bad from an environmental perspective. In fact, the combination of cars and solar power can be a winner for both. Again, let me explain.

Electricity can be stored in car batteries during the day, when cars are parked under roofs that are covered with solar panels that recharge the batteries. That could easily recharge the car battery enough for the owners to drive home and still leave sufficient power in the battery for other use. Note that 70% of Americans drive less than 33 miles per day. Late afternoon, when most people return home, they can plug their cars in at home for their own power use in the evening. Many will even have sufficient energy left to feed power back into the grid, selling electricity at top rates due to peak demand for power in the evening. Even if the battery became fully discharged in the evening, this still makes economic sense, as one can recharge later from the grid (during the night or early in the morning) when rates should be cheaper. Imagine there's a lot of wind during one part of the night. The meter will indicate that this is a good time for empty batteries to recharge. Conversely, when there is no wind in the evening, one will be able to get top dollars for feeding electricity back into the grid, pre-setting the battery to keep enough charge to get to work in the morning. As discussed, the car can then fully recharge from the solar panels on the roof of the parking place at work.

Sounds far-fetched? I'm very impressed with the Tesla Roadster, which has specs that many don't expect from electric cars, specifically an acceleration from 0 to 60 in about 4 seconds and a top speed of over 130 mph. It also looks great! You can recharge the battery at night in your garage and it will cost you as little a $2.50 in electricity for a full recharge.

With the Tesla, you'll be able to drive up to 250 miles on one single charge. This radius is achieved partly with regenerative braking that stores energy produced when braking. Recharging an empty battery with an EVSE system (operating at 70 amps) takes as little as 3.5 hours, but it also comes with a mobile-charging kit that lets you charge from any standard electrical outlet, e.g. in case you get stranded with an empty battery. Anyway, this short recharge time allows one to feed power back into the grid in the evening (when demand is high and supply from solar power sources is low) and still recharge later at night or early in the morning. Indeed, later at night rates are low, so it makes sense to recharge then. If sufficient wind is blowing, supply from wind turbines may be abundant in your area.

Electric cars requires less maintenance, since there are very few moving parts; you don't need to change engine oil, filters, gaskets, hoses, plugs, belts, there's no catalytic converter or exhaust pipe to replace. However, cost still is an issue, the Tesla Roadster 2008 model has a pricetag of $92,000 and the battery pack warrenty is limited (I think it's only warrented for 100,000 miles, while it does cost thousands of dollars to replace). But battery cost is expected to come down in future, while at the same time battery capacity and performance is expected to increase over time.
http://teslamotors.com/

Also have a look at Google's initiative on plug-in cars:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDjSbWTJbdo
Google still uses plug-in hybrids, but it sets a trend away from using fossil fuel. There are also ethanol-electric hybrid cars; more than a year ago, Saab (General Motors Swedish car unit) already showcased such a car, combining an electric motor with an E85 Ethanol engine.
http://www.forbes.com/finance/feeds/afx/2006/03/23/afx2616065.html
Google.org has issued a request for proposals to the tune of $10 million in order to advance sustainable transportation solutions.
http://blog.google.org/2007/09/drivers-start-your-batteries.html

Let me also pass on some links to the Rocky Mountain Institute in Colorado, at:
https://www.rmi.org/
They envisage a "Hypercar," made of ultralight, super-strong, carbon composite material, which is 12x as strong as steel on impact. Manufacturing cars and trucks using these materials would dramatically increast the range of electrical cars.
http://www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid191.php
http://www.fiberforge.com/
Hydrogen is another way to store energy and is also promising in expanding the range of electric cars.
https://www.rmi.org/images/PDFs/Energy/U02-02_CleanerGreener.pdf (1.59 MB)

In conclusion: Just like we shouldn't rely on any single source of power (we should use wind, hydro, solar power and more), we shouldn't rely on a single way of storing power either. Apart from using car batteries for storage, we could use the Great Lakes as a reservoir not only of water, but also of power. At times of peak supply of wind and solar power, surplus power could be used to pump water back from a lower to a higher lake, in order to use hydro-power at times when supply of other types of power is low. Free markets are good in sorting out which technology works best where and when. I have no doubts that the nuclear alternative will be prohibitively expensive once risk factors are better taken into account (accidents, waste management, terrorism, etc).

Cheers!
Sam Carana

Originally posted under the title: Solar power and electric cars, a winning combination!
at: http://global-warming.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977115548

Also posted under the title: The Future is Electric Cars! 
at: http://groups.google.com/group/greenhouseeffect/browse_thread/thread/cc002e38e9b2bf9e

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Why both capitalism and socialism are dead!

Many politicians claim to act in the interest of the public, yet they act in the interest of a narrow group. The nature of the electoral system (one election every three or four years) makes that politicians are typically seeking only short term benefits for a select groups of voters that will help them get elected. Similarly, politics often focuses on local issues and this makes politicians inclined to blame outsiders for any problems.

So, how much can we trust politicians to be able to take adequate action on an issue like global warming? If we handed the task of dealing with global warming to right-wing politicians, they would propose buying off those who wanted action, resulting in no effective action at all. They are keen to establish carbon trading schemes. The danger of such schemes is that the rich will use such schemes to continue their polluting lifestyle, paying the poor under the pretence that this will solve the problem, but the result is that the problem only increases as the rich don't stop polluting while the poor will use this money to imitate the polluting lifestyle of the rich.

On the other hand, if we handed the task to left-wing politicians, they would increasingly tax the rich for their polluting lifestyle and use the proceeds partly to increase an inefficient government bureaucracy, in which case nothing effective would be achieved either. Since no alternative is made available, the rich will simply continue with polluting activities (because they can afford to do so), while the poor have no alternatives either, so - in line with socialist doctrine - they will be given the other part of the tax proceeds with the argument that they needed help with the increased cost of energy and food, which will only lead to them to continue with or take up further polluting activities.

As said, we should not wait for those who seek to advance a specific political ideology, to articulate the necessary action for us. No, we should all take responsibility ourselves and both take action regarding our own lifestyle, as well as regarding our logic. Because the answer as to what should be done is so simple and straightforward. The best way to decrease emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases is to tax emissions of greenhouse gases and subsidize alternatives. In case of carbon dioxide, fossil fuel should be taxed and the proceeds should be used to subsidize local supply of clean and renewable energy, which will make the policy doubly effective. Similarly, the best way to decrease emissions of methane is to tax what's responsible for that, e.g. by introducing a tax on the sale of meat. Again, to make such a policy doubly effective, the proceeds should be used to subsidize local supply of alternative food, e.g. in vegetarian restaurants.

These are only two out of my ten recommendations to deal with global warming, but it goes to show that one can reach conclusions without waiting for answers from politicians. The importance of global warming as an issue is also that it so clearly shows what happens when good debate on such an issue is neglected in society. Indeed, it is precisely because we have failed to think matters through that we're in such big problems with climate change. As many say, it's hard to trust politicians to come up with effective policies - global warming is one of the issues that demonstrates that both capitalism and socialism are dead. It's up to us to articulate the action plan. Global warming as an issue urges us all to think matters through and make sense of why so many politicians have let us down for so long.

Monday, July 2, 2007

Global Warming - Tax or Standards?


As global warming becomes an increasingly urgent issue, there are many calls for action. Many call for standards to be set, to achieve a reduction in pollution. In some cases, it seems to make sense to set a standard or to simply prohibit a product or service that causes too much pollution. However, there are several arguments that make tax more attractive compared to standards and outright prohibition. Taxing supply of energy that was generated by burning fossil fuel can often be a better alternative to achieve reductions in pollution. As such taxes make pollution more expensive, markets could work out what was the least polluting alternative.

How well do standards work? The inevitable practicalities of standards are that some rather polluting behavior will be permitted, while other behavior that was far less polluting will be prohibited. Standards are often popular as they seem to come at no direct cost for consumers, whereas taxes only seems to cost us money. But in reality, the cost of compliance with standards can be huge and it may not always make sense, i.e. people do not often see how a standard helps reducing pollution. A tax has a direct relationship with the pollution and therefore makes more sense, especially if the proceeds of tax are used to subsidize local supply of clean and renewable energy.

There is popular support for outlawing cars that are too polluting, but does that justify standards rather than tax? Perhaps someone only drives a rather polluting car for a very small distance once in a while, producing far less pollution than someone who drives a clean car for long distances daily. With tax there's no such judgement call to be made. Taxing emissions constitutes a straitforward and effective instrument to reduce global warming, whereas standards could lead to all kinds of complications.

There's not just an economic argument in there, it's also a moral issue. The reality of global warming urges us to reduce all pollution, rather than to prohibit only some forms of pollution while legalizing and protecting other forms of pollution, as if some were justified in polluting since they complied with an arbitrary standard or were exempt from complying. Indeed, will the army be expected to comply, will police in persuit of subject stick to the limit or will the burglars, for that matter? Tax can simply apply across the board, to all supply of energy resulting from burning fossil fuel. All users pay the tax and they will pay more, the more they use such energy. Such a tax makes sense and is also fair - it penalises all pollution and it penalises the bigger polluter more than the smaller polluter, at a flat rate or under a scale that can be gliding or exponential and that is under control of the legislator and can be adjusted as needed. Standards, by contrast, set arbitrary limits - rather than to prohibit all pollution, they approve some pollution and prohibit other pollution. Standards operate in a framework that only allows one option, i.e. one has to comply with the standard.

Standards put legislators in charge of running the economy. Where standards produce only one correct outcome (i.e. one has to comply with the prescriptions), tax is much more flexible and leaves more choice in the hands of suppliers to come up with products that respond to market demand. These market mechanisms make tax a much more effective instrument, both economically and in terms of reducing global warming. Standards lead to a single product, designed by legislators and administrators, with all the associated risks of bureaucratic waste, little innovation, favoratism and collusion.

Standards give suppliers an economic incentive to operate on the edges of what the standard permits, seeking loopholes and ways to slip through the mazes. A standard forces all suppliers to produce a product that is just as polluting as their competitors, thus maximising (permittable) pollution. By contrast, tax doesn't prescribe product details other than that the more one pollutes, the more tax is paid. Tax thus leaves it up to suppliers to design a product, while creating incentives to produce a product that reduces pollution more than their competitors.

Also, standards can come not only with a high cost of compliance, but also a high cost of administering the standard. Who pays for the cost of setting the standard, administering it, the technical testing and the testing of the dicisions in court? Who pays for the cost of enforcement? What will happen if one does not comply? Who pays for imprisonment of offenders?

By contrast, tax raises money in a rather simple and straitforward manner, without the need for a battery of trained technical staff and experts to test things. As said, the proceeds of tax could be used to subsidize local supply of clean and renewable energy, making the policy more effective, whereas there's less clarity what the impact will be of the cost of standards.

Standards cost a lot of money. Should penalties paid by offenders perhaps pay for that cost? Designing a policy on that basis would only lead to administrators becoming dependent on revenue from fines and give them an incentive to chase fines instead of reducing global warming. It's often hard to get rid of such administrators. Tax, by contrast, will simply go away by itself. If no more energy is sold that resulted from burning of fossil fuel, then no tax will be levied on the supply of such energy.

In conclusion, taxes work better to combat global warming than standards. Mind you, I'm not arguing to abolish all standards. There's a place for standards and I surely wouldn't want to abolish safety standards for vehicles. But what we need to look at here is what is the most effective framework. Note that we have progressive income taxes (i.e. the more you earn, the higher the scale at which you're taxed). Yet, Warren Buffett, the world's third-richest, was last year taxed at 17.7 percent on his taxable income of more than $46 million, while his receptionist was taxed at about 30 percent.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/27/AR2007062700097.html
This because there are so many deductions and loopholes in the tax system. If we're to introduce a progressive tax on fossil fuel (one that increases as one pollutes more), then we have to be very cautious about possible exemptions and deductions. Also, taxes run the risk of being consumed by administrators who seek to perpetuate their bureauracy.

The framework I propose is a combination of tax and subsidies. The proceeds of the proposed tax on fossil fuel should be spent to subsidize local supply of clean and renewable energy, rather than end up in the consolidated government funds. If we taxed the rich polluters and spent the money to help the poor polluters (as in the old socialist motto), then pollution will only increase, as the rich can afford to continue to pollute, while the poor will pollute even more if they get paid to do so. the rich can afford the higher energy prices (being rich) while the poor get compensated (either directly from the proceeds of the carbon tax or because the proceeds will be used to lower income and payroll taxes), then there will be little or no change to people's patterns of energy use. As said, the rich can afford to continue with their current lifestyle while the poor get financial support, so there's little or no incentive for either to change.

I don't want to see the proceeds of emissions tax added to the consolidated government funds, because of the risk that it will then be used to assist people buying fossil fuel or simply to feed a wasteful bureaucracy. Instead, I want all proceeds to be used directly to subsidize clean and renewable energy. It should be a local dollar for dollar exchange, to assure people that their money will be used to lower the price of clean energy in their area. That way, the combined policy will be most effective and most easily accepted.

I propose a new emissions tax to be introduced and the proceeds to be used to subsidize local supply of clean and renewable energy. An emissions tax introduced as a new tax doesn't require budget changes and makes it easier to raise extra money to subsidize alternative energy, which will reduce the local price of alternative energy and which in turn will help people cope with higher energy prices. A new tax could be justified on those grounds, and also on the need to become energy independent and since the urgency of global warming warrents compensation for cost to be more directly included in the price of fossil fuel.

My feeling is that a new tax at a mere 10% would be acceptable to the public and (given the proportion of energy now generated from fossil fuel) such a tax would result in a huge amount of money. If (as I propose) all that money was used to subsidize clean and renewable energy, it would probably be more than the alternative energy industry could handle at this time. Instead, we need a framework of policies that work together to establish a shift away from burning fossil fuel. We need to subsidize local supply of clean and renewable energy, but where should we get the money for such subsidies? Doesn't it make a lot of sense to get those who pollute most to pay for it?

Friday, June 15, 2007

Tax greenhouse gas emissions!

The quickest and most effective way to deal with global warming is to tax greenhouse gas emissions and to spend the proceeds to encourage the use of renewable energy locally.

Tax puts a price on pollution and, in combination with a reward for those who avoid pollution, it establishes market mechanisms that encourage efficiency, innovation and technological progress.

It is also the quickest way to combat global warming - a tax will immediately discourage pollution, whereas other policies may allow the rich to continue polluting, e.g. by paying the poor in developing and over-populated countries where people will be inclined to use that money to mimic the lifestyle of the rich, leading only to more pollution.

Instead of taxing the rich and handing the money over to the poor, as in the old socialist motto, we should adopt a new motto, i.e. tax energy suppliers who pollute and give it to suppliers who don't.

By taxing pollution and spending the proceeds on rewards for clean and renewable energy, the policy is doubly effective.

Spending the proceeds locally ensures that they are used where they have the most impact, as the biggest markets for energy will receive the biggest incentives to shift away from pollution.

Sunday, April 8, 2007

Ten Recommendations to deal with global warming

There are many things we can all do to reduce our contributions to global warming. Here are ten things politians can do now to make a difference:

1. Tax energy supply that adds extra heat to global warming and use the money to subsidize energy supply that doesn't.

2. Stop supporting conventional power plants. Don't give them research grants or subsidies. Don't give them regulatory privileges or allow them to monopolize a market. If they go broke under the new regime of taxes, then good riddance. Instead, support renewables such as wind farms, solar power, hydro-electricity and wave power.

3. Sign the Kyoto Treaty and make a firm commitment to reduce emissions by a lot more. Work on a new global Treaty beyond Kyoto, using these ten points as a basis.

4. Support lifestyles that are more environmentally-friendly. Encourage use of the Internet as an alternative to travel and commuting. Encourage homeschooling and working from home. Deregulate taxi services.

5. Ban incandescent light bulbs. Set a date for a national ban. Actively promote a global ban.

6. Support energy that doesn't add extra heat more actively in regulations and government policy. Encourage competition and diversity among suppliers of such energy. Encourage interconnection and overlap of electricity grids, so that households can choose which grid to sell electricity to, if they generate a surplus in their backyard.

7. Plan communities without roads and with footpaths and bikepaths instead. Plan houses close together, around a local center of shops and restaurants. Redesign existing cities so that people have to travel less.

8. Tax the sale of meat and use the money to support vegetarian restaurants, bicycle shops and other environmentally-friendly outlets in communities without roads.

9. Make government act more environmentally responsible. Ask for ideas. Have more staff work from home. Look at ways to offer services over the phone, over the Net, etc.

10. Disclosure. Make that government departments and large companies publicly disclose their emissions of greenhouse gases. Make products display on their packaging the amounts of greenhouse gases needed to produce it.

Sam Carana

Editor's note: This is a duplicate of the April 8, 2007, post that followed Ten Dangers of global warming. The post was followed up by Recommendations to deal with global warming and by Comprehensive Plan of Action.