I started this blog in June 2007 asking these questions: Are we in a massive asset bubble that will blow up in our faces ??? - ANSWERED YES ! Is western and particularly British society on the verge of social collapse??? What are the best common sense long term investment strategies to keep you rich? When will consumption/debt bubble economics end and a real savings/production economy begin ???

Friday 8 January 2010

Don't Act on CO2 - It is a con !



In economics, the Jevons paradox (sometimes called the Jevons effect) is the proposition that technological progress that increases the efficiency with which a resource is used, tends to increase (rather than decrease) the rate of consumption of that resource. It is historically called the Jevons Paradox as it ran counter to popular intuition. However, the situation is well understood in modern economics. In addition to reducing the amount needed for a given use, improved efficiency lowers the relative cost of using a resource – which increases demand and speeds economic growth, further increasing demand:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox


The only way conserving energy will reduce CO2 is if the money you save is somehow destroyed - maybe by burning it, which is illegal ! (even burning money wouldn't work because by reducing the money supply you make all other money more valuable i.e. increase its purchasing power so others can buy more with their money)

In an economic analysis it is necessary to consider both what is seen AND what is unseen. The politician will only ever ask you to consider the seen and try to rubbish any mention of the unseen !

Energy conservation = an increase in productivity (i.e. doing the same with less) = more economic activity (the savings must be spent somewhere at sometime) = the same or more CO2 emitted. Or more dependence on Saudi oil if you prefer that bogey man.



Spending the saved money on almost anything will create some CO2 somewhere. Give the money to a tree planter ? Maybe, but the wrong trees could put out more CO2 than they take in e.g. Canadian forests are now carbon sources rather than sinks ! Moreover how carbon neutral will this new tree planting industry be ? Will they ride bicycles ? What will they spend their wages on ?

Just keeping the saved money in a bank account will not work, a multiple (maybe 5X ?) of it will be lent out via the fractional reserve banking system creating even more CO2 when it is spent by others than if you spent the money yourself straight away.

There is only one way to reduce CO2 and that is to build thousands of nuclear power stations - THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE !

Dr Goebbels was an amateur compared to this propaganda machine - the kids are the key:







If you like conspiracy theory ask yourself why THEY are going to so much trouble to change your behaviour when THEY know CO2 will not be reduced ? Follow the money. Who is getting rich ? Why do oil companies spend so much money funding scientists who produce anthropogenic global warming theories ?

How do the oil companies recoup their massive investments in renewables and destroy the coal and nuclear competition after peak oil ?

If Shell and BP are behind climategate they are not shouting about it:
For us the debate on climate change is over.
http://www.bp.com/modularhome.do?categoryId=7040&contentId=7051376


Is your carbon footprint as low as this nice family man's ?




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