Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Earlier in the week I had an email which contained the government's response to a petition asking for "the Prime Minister to Adopt Carbon Rationing and Contraction and Convergence."

The response is detailed. It says - they're looking at it.

"The Government is looking into the potential value of personal carbon trading (PCT). This is just one of a number of possible long-term options being explored for making individuals better informed about, and involved in, tackling climate change. An initial scoping study has been produced for Defra by the Centre for Sustainable Energy. This study concluded that a personal carbon allowance and trading system has the potential to achieve emissions savings in a fairer way than carbon taxes. The Government is now developing a work programme which should provide the information to lead to a decision on whether or not a personal carbon allowance is a realistic and workable policy option ."

The Low Carbon Kid believes a form of PCT or cap-and-share is the ONLY way to force down overall national carbon emissions, sine another route (persuasion) will always fail, due to catch-23, and taxing has a backlash.

You have to remove the choice to engage in energy-expensive activities.

On Friday I'll write about the two systems on offer and how they differ.

The CSE's scoping study can be found on Defra's website

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I liked your piece in the Journal of Geoclimatic Studies.

DavidKThorpe said...

I don't have any piece in any such journal.

Anonymous said...

David - either you are being framed or you are behind the www.geoclimaticstudies.info hoax. You need to get out in front of this, now. Tell the truth, whatever that might be.

Here is the whois lookup for the above site:

Admin ID:tuT6jKg9v6VinjbX
Admin Name:David Thorpe
Admin Organization:David Thorpe
Admin Street1:Cyberium
Admin Street2:
Admin Street3:
Admin City:Machynlleth
Admin State/Province:Powys
Admin Postal Code:SY209HA
Admin Country:GB
Admin Phone:+44.1654761590
Admin Phone Ext.:
Admin FAX:
Admin FAX Ext.:
Admin Email:david@cyberium.co.uk
Billing ID:tutOWSEIIFVPX1PE
Billing Name:David Thorpe
Billing Organization:David Thorpe
Billing Street1:Cyberium
Billing Street2:
Billing Street3:
Billing City:Machynlleth
Billing State/Province:Powys
Billing Postal Code:SY209HA
Billing Country:GB
Billing Phone:+44.1654761590
Billing Phone Ext.:
Billing FAX:
Billing FAX Ext.:
Billing Email:david@cyberium.co.uk
Tech ID:tuXpofnS7OEDCsbj
Tech Name:VISN Hostmaster
Tech Organization:Vision Internet Limited
Tech Street1:PO Box 82
Tech Street2:
Tech Street3:
Tech City:Hyde
Tech State/Province:Cheshire
Tech Postal Code:SK146FF
Tech Country:GB
Tech Phone:+44.1457763501
Tech Phone Ext.:
Tech FAX:+44.1457763501
Tech FAX Ext.:
Tech Email:hostmaster@visn.co.uk
Name Server:NS1.VISN.CO.UK
Name Server:NS0.VISN.CO.UK

You weren't that hard to find. This hoax doesn't do anyone any good.

DavidKThorpe said...

Let's be clear. I did not write the content of the site. Someone else did. I designed the site because I was asked to by someone who knew I would be sympathetic to the joke. I appreciate it looks as though I wrote it. I even wish I had written it, because it's very funny. But I didn't.

Now then, why don't you come clean and say who you are, Mr Anonymous?

DavidKThorpe said...

The site has now been taken down.

Anonymous said...

David - I'm glad you took the site down.

You looked up my IP on sitemeter so you already know. I could have logged in from an anon account or the coffee shop down the road but I didn't.

I work in business development for a major international oil company. We are changing. My company joined the US Climate Action Partnership. Our CEO called for greater auto fuel efficiency in a speech - in Detroit. We are directing research and business development funds towards alternatives. After nearly 30 years in tradional oil and gas, I'm developing our first renewable energy project. I'm also working on carbon sequestration.

I read through your stuff - you seem like a decent enough guy. We are about the same age, I lived in Surry for several years and made many weekend trips to Wales.

The problem with a hoax like this is it backfires. Skeptics will point to the hoax as proof that climate change promoters believe the ends justify the means.

As for me, I remain a bit of a manmade GW agnostic. I don't doubt that CO2 is going up and that it is getting warmer. But cause and effect has yet to be proven, and natural feedbacks probably keep things in check. That said, it seems to me to be a really bad idea to burn, in just a few hundred years, millions of years worth of fossil fuel sequestration. Plus, the current owners of most of the petroleum aren't exactly friendly to Western civilization. Why hand them petro-Euros to repress their own people and spread anti-Western ideology?

So, a few preventative measures are sensible. I support a carbon tax, improved efficiency standards, and doing all the things at the left end of the Mckinsey chart. That includes retiring dirty coal plants and building more nuclear power. I think the problem is fixing itself and smart people are going to figure out the solution.