Captain Picard's Hair wrote:While there would be some cost (especially in the short term) I've read some analyses which suggest that the long-term economic effects would not be catastrophic. These studies posit that the initial setback would be offset by savings due to less wasteful practices and the implementation of more efficient technology.
Some cost is putting it mildly. Most studies I've seen are ridiculously optimistic and seem to be that way in order to try and make this insanity palatable. Al Gore estimated that the cost of going green over the next decade would be about 3 trillion dollars. As someone who actually works in the power industry, he's off by an order of magnitude, on the low side.
that is, there are reasonable things Americans could do to adopt "cleaner" ways without severely impairing our standard of living.
There are reasonable things, this is not one of them. This is full on throwing ourselves under the bus for no good reason.
I don't see that a shift in how we view our place in the world need necessarily be accompanied by any massive drop in wealth!
Which is not what this is about. It's about buying into something that is best poorly understood and then drafting totally divorced from reality legislation to "fix" it and making it law while a sadly misinformed, at best, populace cheers you on. Admittedly it's not that different from most government ideas where the costs are grossly underestimated, benefits are overstated, and the need for it is questionable at best, but this is going over the top.
Cpl Kendall wrote:I'm sure this will die for one simple reason; taxes.
At this point I don't know. A lot of people seem to think that carbon taxes will be paid by companies. They don't realize that companies get their money from consumers and this tax increase will get passed directly on to them. Additionally people have it in their head that green power is cheap and free. Try and tell someone that it's expensive and they look at you like you're crazy. Unless a massive education campaign is launched I don't think the general populace will actually comprehend what it is they're so eager for.
Cpl Kendall wrote:There was talk up here of how going green could give the economy a boost by creating new jobs in R&D and trades because all this kit needs to be developed, installed and maintained but I haven't heard anymore about it.
Because it's pretty much bullshit to the core. Yes, an increase in green power will stimulate the green power industry and create jobs. The problem is that it comes at the cost of jobs in fossil power. Not to mention that the initial cost of going green is... well its fucking phenomenal. Green power options are the most expensive ways to make electricity. For all the bad rap nukes get about being expensive on a kilowatt per kilowatt basis green is more expensive. Hell, last figures I saw, and these are real numbers because my company helped a local group install a large solar array, solar is running at $7,000 a kilowatt just for panels, that's not including installation. A nuke costs around $3,500 a kilowatt. The real bitch, the nuke has an availability rating in the neighborhood of 90%+, the solar right about 15%. Due to the difficulty of landing generation over the last two decades most power generators in this country desperately need to get some power production on the ground. If all they can get approved is green the bill is going to be absolutely ungodly and guess who gets to pay it, the consumer.
