John McCain's "market based solutions to global warming"?

Question

Isn't that just good common sense?

Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, incidentally a Republican, just ordered 667 wind turbines ($2 billion dollars worth) from General Electric. He plans to have 2700 of them operating by 2011, the biggest field of wind turbines in the world, enough to power a million homes.

Answer 1

It has little to do with McCain´s policies.

Texas has market based mechanism called RPS and RECs.

RPS: Renewable Portfolio Standard: it consists in an obligation for utilities in Texas to meet 20% of the electricity demand with renewables by 2020.

RECs: Renewable Energy Certificate are used in order to trade the generation of green electricity. This means that companies achieving over 20% of renewables can sell such certificates while those achieving less have to buy some to fulfill the legal obligation of 20% renewable electricity.

Another strong factor is the outlook of a cap-and-trade system which would put a cost on CO2. This is not "Mc Cain´s solution". All 3 candidates support this approach.

It is an old system which has been developed by the MIT in the 70´s and implemented in the US to prevent acid rains.

It is already applied in the UK for CO2 since 2002.

Answer 2

And I'm sure he's going to make millions off of those wind turbines as this is what the free market is demanding.

Answer 3

The free market with direction and oversight from government, is exactly what this problem requires.  But the free market alone doesn't exactly have a good track record of considering the good of non-paying customers.  Just think of the labor abuses (including children) in the early Industrial Revolution and the unrestrained pumping of toxins into rivers and the atmosphere before we had an EPA.

Answer 4

WELL I HOPE HIS AREA REMAINS LUCKY, BECAUSE ALL IT TAKES IS A HURRICANE OR TORNADOS TO UPSET HIS PLANS, BUT YOU'D THINK HE'D BE MORE INTERESTED IN DELETING GLOBAL WARMING FIRST. I SENT J. MC CAIN MY LINK TO DELETE GLOBAL WARMING, IF HE'S INTERESTED.

Answer 5

Some free market solutions will work.  But if policies are implemented, they need to level the economic playing field so that all ideas have a good chance.  The problem is when the advantage is handed to particular groups for political reasons instead of because the solution works well solving GW.