Oh it shouldn't be a political issue at all. We don't need the government forcing us to reduce energy use, we need people to do it for themselves.

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mrob 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It is absolutely the government's job to regulate externalities. Otherwise, personal virtue is just subsidizing third party vice. Energy is fungible. Every joule you save lowers the cost for people who don't care.

	▲	_heimdall a few seconds ago \| parent [-]
		Regulate externalities sounds like a nice way of phrasing what would amount to authoritarianism. It seems reasonable to want a government to help ensure externalities aren't being ignored in prices, but not to regulate them by saying how much and what types of things people can use. I don't want my government allocated a set amount of energy I use, for example, but I would be fine with them ensuring prices accurately reflect the true cost. Ironically they often do the opposite, subsidizing energy and food costs which make things cheaper and hide externalities.

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rapind 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I wish. Look up "coal rolling".

	▲	iso1631 an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Coal rolling is done to spite the holier-than-thou sanctamonious bullshit that people who say "we need to eat lentils and live in a cave" come out with. It's an illogical reaction, but it's human. We need answers, not revert to a world of catholic sin Change your car to run off electric, great Change your city to transport 1000 people by train rahter than 1000 separate cars, great Power your AC from your off-grid rooftop solar, great Whine that people need to stop using AC, stop eating meat, stop watching TV, it's just harmful.