Random Thoughts of Chris Tilley

'Congress leads, the private sector finds and funds the solutions'. To me this is the American way. Innovation, private money an small government involvement.

Basically the Government would set the caps on Carbon Emissions. Companies would then buy and sell Carbon on the open market. In some cases companies would buy Carbon to bring themselves below the Cap and in others they would reduce their emissions. New ideas like the bioreactor that hooks in to coal plant smoke stacks, reduces the Carbon emissions and can produce useful byproducts like Bio-diesel.

This idea has worked before. 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments was a similar program. It was so successful The Economist magazine crowned it "probably the greatest green success story of the past decade." (July 6, 2002). The cost were far less than originally projected and the target emissions were met.

As far as competition, mostly China. China is going to pass the US this year in exports and take the lead from Germany in 2008. The only way to regain the lead is innovation. We are not going to beat them on labor cost, environment or any of the offer things that allow them to operate cheaper. The US should take the lead, put in a plan that works and then pressure China to do then same or face 'Carbon duties' on their goods. Plus sell them the solutions that we have already developed.

My Related Posts

The Virgin Earth Challenge