Global Warming
With the release of the "An Inconvenient Truth" movie, the Net and media, in general, is rife with global warming debates. Looking about all the postings and commentaries, I found a seriously disturbing pattern that I never quite realized was there before
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Alternative energy source incentives. Countries like Denmark have managed to push non-fossil fuel energy sources to about 50% of country consumption, I think. Of course, they have the means to do so. Of course, its a slow process cos fuel is still very cheap but its price is always going to go up. That could end up being the biggest incentive at the end of the day.
Most global warming estimates do not really predict a very quick doomsday, only the sensational ones go for that. That is important to keep in mind. It means that policy can be planned for the long term in steady, reasonable increments but the sooner we start the better.
That said, the first thing I would do is buy myself a hybrid car when I finally need to change my current one. Hope the prices become reasonable by then.
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other incentives of course, are available in terms of tax break etc...
but without state intervention, who's going to be the first to make the move? what i mean is company A, B C - Z all stand to gain if energy-saving lights are used longterm. but they all know that its expensive, although if one of them makes an order for 1,000,000 bulbs, the price will start going down due to economies of scale. by the time u reach the last company, it may actually be cheaper to make than old bulbs.
lets assume all 26 companies are in competition, do u really want to give the last company that edge?
state intervention is key, but at the same time, let's take malaysia for example. what if the budget was shifted from fuel subsidies to tax breaks for companies who use energy-saving and low emission processes? who gains? corporates. do they then filter the savings down to the employees? usually not.
net result? loss of votes.
it's a really difficult complex web of incentives, like i said, not merely economic ones. if we can appeal to the greater public of how saving on emissions and use of energy can be better for them, then they'll work on it.
for eg, the recent hike in energy tariffs. if tnb had actually gone so far as to make it CHEAPER for those who use in the lower brackets of energy, there wouldnt be sure an uproar.
if fuel prices were only increased by 20 cents and road tax for vehicles above 2.0 litre was increased incrementally, then there wouldnt have been such an uproar.
if people are made to understand universally how lower emissions can be better for general health, there would be less of an uproar when govt budgets shift from subsidies.
that's easier said than done. even now, pple dont see how fuel prices have shot up much faster than our petrol prices have. its insane to see how pple can still complain. altho that said, we are an OPEC ourselves, so we should be gaining instead of losing.
maybe the govt needs to renegotiate its agreement with petronas and fix the royalty at a higher rate. who knows if that's possible.
back to hybrid cars, honda actually brought 10 units in but didnt actually sell any. no word on why this happened, but if u cant afford a hybrid, then there are diesels, which cost less to run, meaning ur savings can be put to changing ur lightbulbs.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c08F727f4Ig&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eateaseweb%2Ecom%2Fmb%2Findex%2Ephp%3Fs%3Da5474645153bc9b51eda9e93f7efe6ae%26showtopic%3D91561%26pid%3D2288799%26st%3D40%26
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