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Originally Posted by Seaver
How do we lower CO2 emissions without completely altering our economy? We have no other cost-effective mass energy production as of yet outside of nuclear power.
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Perhaps we will find out how to lower emissions in an economically practical way from California.
Schwarzenegger signed The Global Warming Solutions Act earlier this year. It is designed to limit the state's carbon emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and allows for the use of market mechanisms to provide incentives to businesses to reduce emissions.
Specifically, the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, requires the Calfornia Air Resources Board to:
# Establish a statewide greenhouse gas emissions cap for 2020, based on 1990 emissions by January 1, 2008.
# Adopt mandatory reporting rules for significant sources of greenhouse gases by January 1, 2009.
# Adopt a plan by January 1, 2009 indicating how emission reductions will be achieved from significant greenhouse gas sources via regulations, market mechanisms and other actions.
# Adopt regulations by January 1, 2011 to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gas, including provisions for using both market mechanisms and alternative compliance mechanisms.
# Convene an Environmental Justice Advisory Committee and an Economic and Technology Advancement Advisory Committee to advise CARB.
# Ensure public notice and opportunity for comment for all CARB actions.
# Prior to imposing any mandates or authorizing market mechanisms, CARB must evaluate several factors, including but not limited to impacts on California's economy, the environment and public health; equity between regulated entities; electricity reliability, conformance with other environmental laws and ensure that the rules do not disproportionately impact low-income communities.
http://gov.ca.gov/index.php?/press-release/4111/
California has the 5th largest economy in the world and one possible economic outcome is that it may very well provide the incentives for more start-up companies in developing alternative energy solutions and applications just as it was the start-up home of the computer technology and the bio-tech industries. Buidlign on this existing technology base, many California start-ups are already exploring possibilities through new applications of nano-technology.
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Oh yeah, what ever happened to the predicted worse-than-last-year hurricane season? We've had a killer 0 hurricanes this year.
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I dont know any reputable scientist who would come to conclusions on climate changes based on one year's occurence of hurricanes, notwithstanding global warming opponents suggesting that this occurence is evidence of something (?).