US Should Find Way to Price Carbon Emissions – Execs

Scott Malone
Reuters
Wednesday, July 30, 2008

HARTFORD, Conn. – Two top executives from US industry told a congressional panel on Monday that the country should assign a dollar cost to carbon emissions to encourage investment in efficiency and tackle climate change.

“We need to reaffirm the principle of predictability,” George David, chairman of United Technologies Corp, told the House of Representatives Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

“We need to say to our world that we are going to have a cost of carbon, whether it’s cap-and-trade or a carbon tax,” he told a hearing in Hartford, Connecticut, where United Tech, the world’s largest maker of elevators and air conditioners, is headquartered. “There’s got to be an understanding that the cost of energy is going to be high for a long time.”

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While oil prices have quadrupled in the last four years, he noted past price spikes have been followed by sharp declines.

David declined to back a particular approach for assigning a cost to emissions of carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas associated with global climate change.

But John Rice, a General Electric Co vice chairman, said GE sees cap-and-trade as the way to go.

GE, the second-largest US company by market value, makes both energy-producing devices from equipment for coal plants to windmills and energy-consuming products like jet engines.

“We believe that a cap-and-trade program can provide a reliable market pricing mechanism for carbon,” Rice said.

With cap-and-trade, regulators issue companies permits to emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide. Those that emit less than allowed can sell permits to those who top their limits.

While the European Union already has a cap-and-trade system covering more than 1,000 industrial sites, the US Senate last month defeated the most recent effort to adopt such a system.

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2 Responses to “US Should Find Way to Price Carbon Emissions – Execs”

1. truthmonster Says:
   July 30th, 2008 at 8:11 am

   I SAY WE SHOVE A METER UP THE RULERS ASS’ AND WE TAX THE SHIT THEY SPEW.

   EVERYTIME ONE OF THESE NUT CASES HAS AN IDEA SOMEONE SOMEWHERE HAS TO PAY FOR IT.

2. Karmakaze Says:
   July 30th, 2008 at 4:45 pm

   Plan B in full effect, boyee!

   Notice how the liars and denier frame the debate? One lot want a Carbon Tax, and another lot want cap and trade (Ge foe effs sake!).

   I have an idea, why don’t we seize the record profits of the energy corporations, and the corporations making billions off the energy wars (like GE) and use THAT to develop and implement renewable energy sources? Why is THAT never offered as a solution?

   The fact is AGW is real and is a major threat, and the elites have implemented two tactics: 1) outright denial to sucker the ignorant, and 2) acceptance but guided “solutions” that ensure WE, not THEY, pay the price for fixing it, to sucker the intelligent but gullible.

   Don’t fall for either of these tactics – reject their denial and accept the truth, but ALSO reject their bullshit solutions.

   Demand that those who PROFITED from causing the problem pay for fixing it, not the rest of us who were ripped off in the first place (can anyone explain why oil is over 5 times more expensive now, even though supply has barely changed?).

   Accept the SCIENCE, but reject the POLICY.