Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Green Living Blog So does this mean that energy saving doesn't make any difference?

Question by : So does this mean that energy saving doesn’t make any difference?
Is this is true or not? If it is, then isn’t that a bit backwards?

From http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2009/nov/26/top-10-green-living-myths

[QUOTE]:

“1. What they tell you: Turning off the lights saves CO2

What they don’t tell you: It makes sense for individuals to use less electricity to help reduce the emissions of British power stations. However, it’s worth bearing in mind that the total amount of CO2 that can be released by power plants and other industrial facilities across the EU between now and 2012 is fixed by the European Emissions Trading Scheme. This means that if the UK power sector reduces its emissions, extra carbon permits get freed up for use elsewhere, such as German power stations or French cement plants. In other words, the same amount of CO2 will be released, just from different sources. If you want to ensure that your electricity savings do make a real environmental difference, join Sandbag, a charity that will remove CO2 permits from the EU scheme to stop your good work being traded away on the carbon markets.”

Doesn’t that seem bizarre?

Best answer:

Answer by The Vampire Muffin Man
Yes. There seems to be some fundamental problems with the European ETS. I’m not sure what that is because I’m not an economist or knowledgeable about financial markets. It seems to me, though, that that article is ignoring the fact that if you save energy and the power company sells credits that you should see lower per/unit energy costs. Unless of course the company just keeps the money from the sale of the credits and gives their execs larger bonuses. That’s hardly the fault of those that believe that AGW is a serious problem, or those who care about other aspects of the environment.

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What do you think? Answer below!



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