[Bruce_the_vii]

Two alternatives to a Carbon tax

The carbon issue is on the international political stage, but the costs projected are in the trillions. At this time the Canadian government can take a different approach to the issue, something other than an ineffective royalty on carbon.

The first thing it could do is research the alternative of hot wiring the main roads to provide electricity to hybrid vehicles. A sunken conduit that a smart car or smart truck can connect to on the fly has the advantage that electrical engines are 300% as efficient as internal combustion engines. The actual amount of energy to run all the cars and trucks we have is immense and cutting it to a third makes it manageable. While the future might be small internal combustion cars trucks in particular will still be energy intense. The cars and trucks would have to be hybrid, have an internal combustion engine supplementing the electric one. A test road should be constructed somewhere so the technology is ready to go when the coming energy crisis hits.

The other thing the Canadian government could do cheaply is contract a second Club of Rome book on the state of world resources. The attention would be on resources and the growing population, a change up from carbon alone, a change in focus. Presently we are doing illogical things like developing biofuels that are based on food substances. This could be a catastrophe for the 3rd world. Also the real frontier is the bulging population, and my information is birth control is not even properly funded yet. So the discussion needs to be refocused.