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1. 

   old1953 said, 2 months ago

   Carbon taxes are not going to be productive or needed. Silicon prices have dropped to below the takeoff point, in fact, industrial demand has (temporarily) pushed them up.

   http://www.seia.org/map/majormap.php

   Those are utility installs planned and listed. The plain fact is that solar photocells are based on very simple circuits, and the circuits keep getting cheaper as all solid state circuits do. Solar is here to stay and it will be cheaper than anything else by 2025. Or sooner.

   http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/12/daily-chart-19
2. 

   Ottodesu said, 2 months ago

   Just a general comment:
   Over 30 countries have now taken up Carbon Taxes (yes, even China and India have), but the political opposition in nearly every one of those is claiming that they are almost the only ones (and that China and India won’t).
3. 

   jack75287 said, 2 months ago

   You mean more money for Al Gore.
4. 

   Ms. Ima said, 2 months ago

   The ‘carbon tax’ is gasoline.
5. 

   Ms. Ima said, 2 months ago

   @old1953

   Fine, solar puts out minimal power for it’s area. Once all the factors of producing a solar cell it’s a long long time before it’s production cancels that energy lost and starts producing a positive output. But then again, lots of silver is destroyed in producing solar cells so it’s good for stackers.
6. 

   edinbaltimore said, 2 months ago

   And how is Al Gore “profiting” from a carbon tax? Until we realize that “climate change” is not “weather”, the deniers will scream bloody murder on ANY initiative. They DENY science, even in the face of more FACTUAL research that shows overall temps are rising, and have done a major turnaround since the 70s.
7. 

   Respectful Troll said, 2 months ago

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKNCZ7eEafU
   ^
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4MOTvvdgYc
   *
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObpODCsO_8A
   ^
   The three links above show how Mike Strizki, a New Jersey resident, has taken his home and more off of the power grids. The second and third are part 1 and 2 of the same video.
   ^
   There are solutions to the problems facing our nation. We simply have to educate ourselves and our children who will become the scientists of tomorrow.
   Once the flames melt the hose in Mr. Toles cartoon, it will be too late to focus solutions on the fires.
   Respectfully,
   C.
8. 

   ARodney said, 2 months ago

   Solar and wind are now cheaper in Australia than new coal plants. The GOP and idiots like Ima want to keep America in the stone age (Cut education! Cut research! Cut taxes on oil companies! Ban scientists from saying the words “sea level rise”! Drill, baby, drill!) while China and the rest of the world modernize. America may be the first country to intentionally move itself to third-world status, due to deliberate sabotage by the Republican right.
9. 

   meetinthemiddle said, 2 months ago

   One of the many ironies of the carbon tax and cap and trade debates was that the Republican response to the Kyoto Accords was “It’ll never work because it has no market-based incentive. You’d have to have a cap and trade system to make it effective.” Now 15 years later they say cap and trade is creeping socialism.
10. 

    Omnius said, 2 months ago

    @

    Hey little miss moron the carbon tax was the idea of you conservatives, you called it cap and trade as in trying to make it capitalistic so the rich and greedy could get richer off it.
11. 

    Omnius said, 2 months ago

    When the dim bulb conservatives finally realize that global warming is a problem they’ll want to blame the Democrats for not doing anything while forgetting the republicans blocked every effort.
12. 

    David said, 2 months ago

    @Ms. Ima

    lolololol, thanks for the alchemy lesson. Destroying silver, funny…..
13. 

    corzak said, 2 months ago

    @old1953

    “Silicon prices have dropped to below the takeoff point”
    
    Yep, that appears to be the case.
    
    It’s really a no-brainer. Solar panel farms. Throughout the world’s deserts. Perpetual electricity. Energy problem: solved. Carbon problem: solved.
14. 

    corzak said, 2 months ago

    @Omnius

    “When conservatives finally realize that global warming is a problem they’ll want to blame the Democrats for not doing anything”
    
    Lol! Absolutely true! Except for the fact that the way things are going now, there won’t be a ‘Republican party’ in 10 years . . .
15. 

    Ionizer said, 2 months ago

    @ARodney

    “Solar and wind are now cheaper in Australia than new coal plants.”
    
    How many subsidies for solar and wind are involved, and how many penalties, licenses, and obstacles for new coal plants? How much coal will be replaced by S/W? How do the existing coal plants compare?
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