Reply #34: Don't Buy It [View All]

[ProfessorGAC]

I don't think that's true. People without signficant extra discretionary cash are not going to buy a new fridge or a new hybrid car just because they'll get carbon credits. THEY DON'T HAVE THE EXCESS CASH! The carbon credits are, therefore, irrelevant.

I live in small town. There IS NO MASS TRANSIT. So, that's useless to me and to about 75 million other people in this country. And i'll bet you the vast majority of those people are average workers, because big time executives and pols don't live in small towns 50 miles from a metro area. I'm just middle class guy, myself. A good salary, but i'm no millionaire.

Farmers already use carbon saturation methods. I live in the fringes of farm country. I know LOTS of farmers. (The lady next door has a boyfriend who farms a 200 acre family farm.) And, my friend works for USDA and knows more about farming than you or i will ever know. What you're describing is already part of the qualifying plan for subsidies. Now, they'll get double credit. I think not.

And, as someone who helped a firm get BQ9000 certification for their biodiesel operation (300 million pounds per year), soy diesel DOES NOT REDUCE the carbon emissions. It raises them, as it's a more saturated hydrocarbon mix and since it's linear, the overall bond energy per unit mass is lower. So, to get the same amount of energy output, you actually burn a little more. Biodiesel is not intended to be less impactful on the environment. It's intended to pursue renewable energy from short turnaround sources. (Yearly, instead of every 30 million years.) So, you're mixing apples and oranges.

This is not a plan that benefits the average worker. Your case is a bit gauzy in its defense.
The Professor