New Zealand has become the first nation to implement Kyoto Accord carbon taxes, which are meant to penalize users of fossil fuels who emit so-called “greenhouse gases”, specifically carbon dioxide, as effluent.
The “greenhouse” term is particularly ironic, as the loudest protests from the Kiwis have come from the vegetable growers who depend on natural gas, diesel fuel, and other fossil sources to run their farming operations.
The Guardian, clearing saying more than their argument required, observe without a blink that this follows a previous, failed attempt, to regulate cow flatulence in that island nation. I won’t repeat the vernacular label for that tax.
What I find particularly troubling though is the assertion that “The tax, planned after New Zealand signed up to the Kyoto protocol, would make polluting energy sources such as coal and oil more expensive than cleaner ones such as hydro, wind and solar”. This is held up as a positive thing.
Industry sources, though, indicate that while fossil fuel generation costs 2 to 3.5 cents per kilowatt hour, solar energy can be as high as 30 cents per kwh, and inexpensive bird-munching windmill operations are spinning around the five-cent mark.
So boosting the overall cost of energy by 20% or more is a Very Good Thing? I doubt it. I think Kiwis will have more to say about it as well, and soon.
