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That depends exactly what we mean by "coal power subsidies". For example, the UK came under a lot of criticism recently for the scale of its subsidies for fossi
by makomk 7y ago
That depends exactly what we mean by "coal power subsidies". For example, the UK came under a lot of criticism recently for the scale of its subsidies for fossil fuel power, but if you look at the fine print the vast majority of those subsidies were the result of us having a lower rate of VAT on all domestic electricity and heating regardless of its source. Getting rid of that lower rate would put up the price of electricity for ordinary people across the board, no matter whether it was generated by clean or fossil sources.
- Robotbeat 7y agoThat's a good point. And that could easily lead to a worse result. For instance, the cost of diesel in Germany is lower than in the UK but the price of electricity is significantly lower in the UK than in Germany, which basically punishes electric cars (which have significantly lower lifetime emissions per km than comparable diesel vehicles) in Germany while encouraging them in the UK. This is one thing we need to pay attention to as more and more of global emissions are transportation related instead of electricity related: punishing electricity production without also properly tariffing liquid fuels could backfire by discouraging electrification of transport.
- scarmig 7y agoThat's not in itself a bad thing: for any kind of power source, you can reduce it by either removing it or replacing it. Removing it is always cheaper. The ideal would be no subsidies for any kind of power, and the externalities of carbon pollution would be priced in via a carbon tax or cap and trade. You can then provide a general rebate of the funds raised to the everyone, and they can either choose to use it to make up for the power they were priced out of, or on things they find more valuable.