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> There are already CO2 taxes on cars and it doesn't change much, people still buy them and it's still unsustainable on the long term. Taxing stuff doesn't auto
by bhupy 6y ago
> There are already CO2 taxes on cars and it doesn't change much, people still buy them and it's still unsustainable on the long term. Taxing stuff doesn't automagically make the negatives disappear
Are you sure about that? Over the last few years, EV + PHEV proliferation has exploded around the world. Electric cars now make up 54% of the market in Norway (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/05/electric-cars-record-market-share-norway https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/05/electric...). In the US, renewable energy consumption surprassed coal for the first time in 130 years (https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=43895 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=43895).
You're right that magic doesn't exist, but it applies to electric technology too; you can't just "will" fully featured replacement power systems into existence overnight. There's still a lot of R&D left to do, and the world is simultaneously working towards improving battery technology while also mass marketing existing technology.
- lm28469 6y agoReplacing the 1.4 ICE vehicles running worldwide with lithium battery powered electric vehicles will be fun... imho we're just displacing the problem in time, lithium isn't magic either and will bring its own share of problems. As long as we keep building and using more and more vehicles we'll always hit pollution and recycling issues which aren't sustainable in the long run. Also, Norway isn't India or Africa, it's a very small country with lots of resources, a very rich population and _massive_ monetary incentives to buy electric vehicles. No matter how much we'll improve out tech, earth is still a finite planet with finite resources and we can't just keep our exponential growth targets indefinitely (more cars, more planes, more roads, more travels, more computers, &c.). It reminds me of plane engine improvements, every XX years we gain 5% on pollution and efficiency but we run 30% more flights... we'll eventually have to make sacrifices
- bhupy 6y agoOkay, but this is all very different from your original argument that was of the tune that carbon taxes don't work. They clearly do work specifically as it relates to CO2 emissions, but don't do much with respect to, say, road congestion (to your last point). Fine, but that's unrelated to cryptocurrencies. Regarding whether or not "more electric cars" is a worthwhile goal, I recommend reading this: https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/we-will-not-ban-cars https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/we-will-not-ban-cars