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Well, The problem is there can be a price where some people can't drive to work but other people are still quite able to afford gas and you wind-up still not m

Well, The problem is there can be a price where some people can't drive to work but other people are still quite able to afford gas and you wind-up still not meeting the goal. As a practical matter, we need to keep using our present petroleum based system but use it's energy output to build a new economy/energy system. Raising energy prices makes people use less energy but doesn't make them use it efficiently (as mentioned, the rich can hold massive parties on their yachts while the poor are unable to get anywhere).

naniwaduni 5y ago
> The problem is there can be a price where some people can't drive to work but other people are still quite able to afford gas and you wind-up still not meeting the goal. You're not charging enough. You need to charge more.
WalterBright 5y ago
> but doesn't make them use it efficiently Of course it does. Gas prices greatly affect peoples' driving habits, for example. And their choice of car. Fuel prices are the single biggest factor that drives new jetliner designs, for another. > the rich can hold massive parties on their yachts Yes, and how much does that contribute to overall CO2 emissions? 0.00001%? This is what I meant when government makes such decisions for political reasons, rather than pragmatic, efficient, or effective ones.
ZeroGravitas 5y ago
Did you say you had an economics degree? > Incentives matter. The most famous example in economics is the idea of the demand curve—when something gets more expensive, people buy less of it. When it gets less expensive, people buy more of it. > Some find this bedrock principle of economics hard to accept, based on introspection. “When the price of gas goes up, I still buy gasoline,” says the skeptic. Or in its more extreme form: “You need gasoline, so people will keep buying it even when it gets more expensive.” > You may still buy gasoline when it gets more expensive. But you will try and find ways to buy less. Not necessarily zero, less. > Thinking about how people respond to the incentive of the higher price opens up a world of possibility beyond the cold turkey of going without. When gasoline gets more expensive, some people car pool, some people drive at slower speeds, some try and combine multiple errands into one trip. Let the price of gasoline rise enough and be expected to stay higher for a long enough period of time and some people will buy a car that gets better mileage, move closer to work or postpone or cancel that order for the pleasure boat that takes $400 to fill its tank when gasoline is $3 a gallon. > Not everyone will do all of these things. Some people will do very few of them. But the overall effect of an increase in the price of gasoline is to discourage the purchase of gasoline.

naniwaduni 5y ago

> The problem is there can be a price where some people can't drive to work but other people are still quite able to afford gas and you wind-up still not meeting the goal. You're not charging enough. You need to charge more.

WalterBright 5y ago

> but doesn't make them use it efficiently Of course it does. Gas prices greatly affect peoples' driving habits, for example. And their choice of car. Fuel prices are the single biggest factor that drives new jetliner designs, for another. > the rich can hold massive parties on their yachts Yes, and how much does that contribute to overall CO2 emissions? 0.00001%? This is what I meant when government makes such decisions for political reasons, rather than pragmatic, efficient, or effective ones.

ZeroGravitas 5y ago

Did you say you had an economics degree? > Incentives matter. The most famous example in economics is the idea of the demand curve—when something gets more expensive, people buy less of it. When it gets less expensive, people buy more of it. > Some find this bedrock principle of economics hard to accept, based on introspection. “When the price of gas goes up, I still buy gasoline,” says the skeptic. Or in its more extreme form: “You need gasoline, so people will keep buying it even when it gets more expensive.” > You may still buy gasoline when it gets more expensive. But you will try and find ways to buy less. Not necessarily zero, less. > Thinking about how people respond to the incentive of the higher price opens up a world of possibility beyond the cold turkey of going without. When gasoline gets more expensive, some people car pool, some people drive at slower speeds, some try and combine multiple errands into one trip. Let the price of gasoline rise enough and be expected to stay higher for a long enough period of time and some people will buy a car that gets better mileage, move closer to work or postpone or cancel that order for the pleasure boat that takes $400 to fill its tank when gasoline is $3 a gallon. > Not everyone will do all of these things. Some people will do very few of them. But the overall effect of an increase in the price of gasoline is to discourage the purchase of gasoline.