Quote:
Originally Posted by Shiraz
all I know is that the carbon tax did exactly what it was supposed to do for me. Power went up so much that it forced me to get off my butt and do something.
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Ray, the carbon tax component of your electricity bill amounts to something like 2c per kwh iirc. (basically nothing) After reading through your post, it is redundant to say that you have made some intelligent and informed decisions with respect to the changes you made to your energy usage profile. Your example is quite typical of those that apply some initiative. I used to work as an energy auditor and the cases where I couldn't point out to clients how to significantly reduce the costs associated with their energy consumption with simple behavioural changes were extremely rare (I could count them on both thumbs, one of them being spare). A 30% reduction straight off the bat without any major investment was probably the mean.
It may surprise you however, to learn that I am somewhat less than ambivalent to the idea of taxing carbon as a means to solve the issues associated with burning it. People generally do not take the time to make a fully informed and rational decision on the fundamentals that affect their long term welfare (you are somewhat of an exception). Pressuring them with market forces doesn't actually work to the extent required because their behaviour is more easily manipulated by suggestion (media advocacy) which is always going to be the domain of the highest bidder (multinational banks and corporations) Direct action is in my opinion, far more effective. This is not to be confused with the 'fossil fool' initiative being employed by our current crime minister (disingenuously) under the same name.