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0 pointsdownandout10y ago0 comments

I simply pointed out that by using prices that include taxes and incentives, this report artificially exaggerated the costs of coal and understated the true costs of solar/wind. They aren't really even close to being competitive in real terms, but this report falsely implies that they are.

Bloomberg LLP, the company behind this report, is run by Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire radical environmentalist. Therefore it isn't necessarily surprising to see such misleading tactics used in a report produced by them, but it is disappointing because Bloomberg masquerades as a news organization.

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icebraining10y ago

How do you define "real" terms? Sure it's not the price that would emerge if those taxes/incentives didn't exist, but market prices are always adjusted to the current particularities, it's never an absolute value. For example, if it was technically and legally possible to identify all the health and property damages caused by coal pollution and force the coal producers to compensate affected people, the market price of coal would have to be higher than what you call "real" cost, but would that be any less real?

downandoutOP10y ago

>How do you define "real" terms?

The actual cost of production without artificial factors like taxes and incentives being included.

fauigerzigerk10y ago

Regulating or taxing emissions is simply a form of collective demand for clean air, a scarce resource. I don't see how it is any more artificial than demand for land that drives up the prices for coal mines or the demand for labor that determines salaries of coal miners.

In other words, producing energy by burning coal consumes clean air. Clean air is owned by the public and the public is charging for its use.

m_eiman10y ago

You should also include external costs to your cost of producing coal power; then is what the CO2 taxes are an attempt to do.

That someone else is forced to pay to handle the effects of your pollution doesn't mean that this cost shouldn't be considered part of the cost of coal generated electricity.

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joosters10y ago

But excluding factors like the health/pollution costs? So, not a fair comparison with things like wind/solar then.

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