There is a
Carbon Fuel Colossus that
powers our civilization and poisons our planet. It is top dog in our modern times and
its fall will be tragic for some, joyous for others. We must make sure it does not take down our civilization with it.
You can’t just tear down this colossus without taking down our global civilization. It must be replaced with more distributed energy. There is a Carbon Tax proposal at the MIT Climate CoLab that focuses on funding conservation, renewable and alternative energy programs. Renewable energy is locally sourced. Like our water supply, energy is best sourced locally instead of imported.
With fossil fuels, the cost of energy is related to supply and demand of resources like coal & oil. The production of oil, natural gas and coal limits the energy available for civilization. Our dependency for carbon fuels maintains demand for ever-shrinking resources that need to be discovered and refined to create energy. The socio-economic powers that control or “own” these fuels keep their grasp on the spigot of energy for mankind. Renewable energy systems capture energy from the environment throughout their operating lifetime. With renewable energy, costs are related to the systems & infrastructure instead of fuel.
A national Carbon Tax would be an ideal approach, but unobtainable considering the lack of any consensus in Congress. Republicans are all against any Carbon Tax. At least one state needs to demonstrate its effectiveness. Long term savings from reduced energy spending becomes a competitive advantage in the global market where fuels are shipped to the highest bidder. Cheap natural gas can fade into history when competing against long-term contracts for LNG export to Europe or Asia.
A Carbon Tax proposal at the MIT Climate Colab argues that a good Carbon Tax would not only reduce Carbon Dioxide emissions, but over time Tax revenue would decline, making “revenue neutral” Carbon Taxes impractical, if not impossible.