Rusty
Bencher
ManlyBacker link said:
Thanks for the arguments, I agree this is an issue that needs that be fixed, and if Copenhagen had worked then perhaps an ETS might be the solution, if applied equally across the international spectrum. I think that honestly in an economy of this size targeted incentive spending by the government is a much better solution.
My policy framework would be to set a limit on the carbon that can be produced in energy production, ideally at current levels, but perhaps at current = 5% or the like. Then fund the building of nuclear plants, in Private-Public Partnership, ideally the government only paying what it needs to make it commercially viable, with an aim of making the coal fired power plants redundant in 10 years and fazing them all out.
Throw in some large scale test projects in solar, bio-fuels, geo-thermal, wave power, wind and the like with the hope that by building these projects on a large scale the government might create Australian expertise in the field and leverage us into a position of competitive advantage in a market that will grow over the next few decades.
I am not for simply throwing money at the problem, but I truely think if we can solve the carbon issue at the source, ie. Power generation then we will go a long way towards fixing the problem.
