Random Thoughts of Chris Tilley

An article came out today 'Kyoto would cost $100B over 4 years: study'. This is for Canada to meet it Kyoto obligations. They propose to tax gas and coal, a carbon tax, to then be spent on green technologies. I agree that we should be meeting our Kyoto obligations however I do not believe that this plan will work without incentives for the companies.

If big oil has a tax added to it all they are going to do is pass the cost on down the line and probably add a little something for themselves. The end consumers, who are already getting gouged at the pump, are moving to more fuel efficient vehicles. Increasing gas price will increase that but only for the people that can afford to move to a more efficient vehicle. The rest just suffer. On top of that everything else will increase in price as truckers have to pay the extra for their fuel.

If we are going to tax them lets allow them to offset their carbon with investment in renewable energy either in actual plants or research. Have carbon tax credits as well as taxes. Exxon has been developing solar panels for nearly 40 years and is a large producer of them. See this blog on the history of solar power. Search for Exxon. Alberta Oil companies are putting in wind farms across Alberta and are looking at BC because of restrictions in Alberta. Plus I don't trust any government to invest that money properly.

This also doesn't look at the demand side of the equation. While cars are getting more efficient they are never going to be efficient enough as long as they are gas powered. As long as there is demand there will be supply. Well at least until we run out.