http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/science_and_ ... 456314.stm

I wish I could ignore day to day life the way that team seems to, and what if they are right about GW? Are idiots like that really gonna do anything useful?

I fully expect our coalition to be greenwashing on a massive scale. Insulation would be very beneficial. Labour were doing that but not on a big enough scale. Every home and business should have been eligible, and it should have been paid for by a large carbon tax on energy.

Amnesia, I agree - but they should only introduce the carbon tax in a few years time.

If they were to announce that in five years time energy companies would be heavily taxed for their carbon output, they would invest in green energy today so they can try to avoid that tax in the future.

Energy prices would rise, but not overnight as they would if they introduced the tax too quickly.

Perhaps that's because wind farms were asked to frakin shut themselves off so as not to overload the grid.

FFS.

Slightly edited.

Thank you kindly.

Idiots.

That is all.

Yes but if you did that the government would never raise the tax in five years as it would always find an excuse to stall it. We would be no better off in five years because everyone will have thought that it was a ploy to get us to invest in efficiency. They would still be unprepared in five years time.

No what I would do is have a high carbon tax that could replace airline passenger duty and be applied to aircraft fuel as well, it would replace some of the petrol duty (much is not for anti greenhouse gases anyway) and it would apply to all fossil fuel energy generation. The money raised would ALL be used to give grants or vouchers for low energy lights loft and wall insulation and would be eligible to all. So in year one it will mean that collectively everyone is more insulated. Over time the amount paid back in grants etc will be reduced and could be used for clearing the deficit. In the mean time it makes people far more aware of the true cost of energy and means that they will look for cheaper running appliances to buy. Also why shouldn't businesses benefit from the grants or from extra allowances to cut energy usage? It would make renewables more cost effective and if people sign up for green energy contracts they can be exempt from the tax. If energy companies still wish to use fossil fuels they cannot pass the costs on to green energy contracts. They would want more efficient generation because it would benefit them directly.

Also by switching the emphasis onto efficiency the power companies could be forced to have regulated energy prices for low usage annually, so not impacting on the poor elderly or efficient, but higher unregulated prices for bigger users so the companies could still make their profits.