For low-carbon alternatives to compete with the mainstream, the companies that are pioneering them need the support of a stable regulatory framework and a package of pricing and tax-relief incentives to give them confidence to invest.
Take biofuels….
Erm, but biofuels are not green. The emit more than the equivalent fossil fuels. So whatever we’re going to do about supporting green technologies this isn’t one we should be supporting.
So the rest of this is wibble.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Luis Enrique // Oct 13, 2009 at 9:13 am
“the emit more …” what, net? after taking into account carbon aborption during growing?
Tim adds: Some crops, yes. For example, tomatoes shipped in from Spain have lower emissions than hot-housed ones in the UK.
2 Serf // Oct 13, 2009 at 11:16 am
1st:
a stable regulatory framework.
2nd:
a package of pricing and tax-relief incentives.
No quibbles with a stable regulatory environment, but pricing & tax relief….
What about the fact that new information is discovered all the time relating to the relative merits of different technologies.
Lets say we have offered a subsidy of $0.5 per gallon to corn ethanol. Then we discover that its not really green. Should we….
1) Keep the subsidy, we don’t want to ruin our stable regulatory environment.
2) Pay the money to something greener?
(Readers of this blog will prefer option 3, get rid of subsidy)
Its not really that simple is it.
3 DocBud // Oct 13, 2009 at 12:14 pm
If you are receiving subsidies through tax relief and elevated prices you are not competing. Come back when you can really compete.
4 JH // Oct 13, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Not all biofuels are ‘not green’. A lot of work has been done to develop sustainability criteria to show which biofuels are, in fact, green. In particular I would have thought that biofuels developed from waste biomass would pass the tests.
5 David Gillies // Oct 14, 2009 at 6:39 am
The eco-fundamentalists assume that if you question them, you are perforce in the pay of the oil companies. What’s sauce for the goose etc.. Who’s paying Richard Tyler to spout this nonsense?
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