hedgehog

The attacks upon the citizen continue unabated and, of course, gas guzzling four by fours get a special mention in this vision of the future that the greens want to force upon us. Yesterday they were knocking down your house, today this, tomorrow....

http://www.eupolitix.com/EN/News/200...c6bbc4a614.htm

Everyone could play their part in reducing global warming with the introduction of carbon cards, writes Struan Stevenson MEP.

"The radical proposal to reduce carbon emissions by allocating every individual citizen and every business a carbon allowance is beginning to take hold in the corridors of power.

A key environmental strategy committee set up between the US government and the European Commission has put carbon cards on the agenda for their next meeting.

Under the proposed scheme, 40 per cent of the EU’s annual carbon emission quota would go to individual citizens, with individual carbon cards issued to each adult.

The member state governments would put up the remaining 60 per cent for auction to business and industry, with the proceeds used for other environmental control measures.

Each EU government would set an annual carbon budget, within the context of an overall EU allocation, which would be reduced year on year until we reach our target of a 60 per cent reduction by 2050.

Carbon cards would be swiped each time a person filled their car or paid for electricity or gas.

The system would be based on equal carbon allowances for all adults, although children would be allocated a slightly lower allowance to reflect their lower emissions.

The system would radically change the way we live our lives. Massive, gas guzzling four by fours would quickly disappear off city streets, to be replaced with fuel efficient or even electric cars and bicycles.

Sprint Chief

Hmm - petrol rationing. And for what? Ah, yes, because some politically obsessive loonies have fine tuned their coupled non-linear chaotic computer models to predict the end of the world irrespective of what made-up numbers you stick in them.

You just can't make this stuff up...

Still, I can't see a government in the UK ever implementing this - petrol rationing for no good reason would surely be political suicide.. wouldn't it?

Spring Heeled Jack

They are just brim full of bright ideas aren't they? ...and, there's nobody left that could stop them.

boomer

If the tree huggers actually went to work, then maybe they would appreciate that lentil powered buses fail to take them door to door at the exact time that they need

mb

carl

Personally, I'd be saving up my credits during the week (go to work by train) so I can drive the TVR at the weekends

Bubba po

Petrol is going to run out.

carl

Maybe it will become economical to synthesize...

Bubba po

Out of what?

OllyK

Hmmm - Carbon and Hydrogen perhaps?? Slightly more seriously, big vats with yeast water and sugar, distil it off and welcome to alchohol power.

hedgehog

The Russians "claim" to be synthesizing oil at present. Now, I'm not totally convinced that they actually are but their scientists are now questioning the generally held view on how oil reserves formed in light of their work in making their own.

It is also highly unlikely that oil will run out before we have found an alternative. New fields are found on a regular basis and the amount of available oil is increasing. As I recall a field with an awful lot of oil was located in some new location off Scotland early this year.

Lomborg said that "the stone age didn't end because they ran out of stones" and while this isn't an exact analogy it will probably be fairly close to what will happen with oil. We will have moved on to something better before we have used all the oil. In support of this we will also have a huge nuclear power station building programme in the very near future to ensure our electricity supplies. At the minute a lot of our electricity comes from gas piped from eastern Europe and Russia, hardly a physically or politically secure source.

More alarming than the "oil will run out" is the impact this will have upon personal freedom. Does anyone think it frightening that some politician in the EU wants to control your ability to go on holiday? Drive the car of your choice? Limit the distance you can drive each year? Heat your house? This is, of course, totally about control. 80% of the electricity generated in France comes from nuclear so even if man made CO2 did cause global warming, which it doesn't, French electricity generation contribtes very little. Do you think the French citizen will be excused the "carbon limit" function of his ID card? I don't think so, who would have control over his movements then.

King RA

Biofuels, diesel made from crops. See www.biofuelscorp.com, biggest refinery in Europe being built in N.E England. BFC on AIM for anyone interested in the future of energy.

"Biodiesel is produced from vegetable oils and, as an environmentally friendly product, can make a significant contribution towards reducing green house gases and meeting Kyoto targets."

Brendan Hughes

That would even keep the French farmers happy...

hedgehog

Looks like they don't think so, in fact it looks like it has just arrived in the UK. Did anyone vote for this? Ask them to do it? Want it? Anyone have any evidence it will change our climate?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...equestid=10629

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Elliot Morley, the minister for the environment and climate change, said the Government was committed to a review of its policies by the end of the year.

"We should have an open mind about the kind of levers that we apply and not be afraid to think the unthinkable," he said. "It is fair to say that for a lot of people personal carbon allowances falls into the unthinkable category.

"I don't think we should dismiss these approaches.