Originally Posted by
wphamilton
After all, energy cost is intrinsic in just about every product that we consume. I mean, literally, that the cost of the biscuit powering my commute, vs the cost of gas to drive, may be a better approximation of the energy cost than are these calculations.
The only way we'll truly know the answer is by imposing an energy tax or carbon tax on literally everything, every step of the way, and price that into the final product. The free market will efficiently optimize for the cheapest method of transportation, dependent on the weight given to external costs of energy used.
I agree - proper costing of non-renewable energy usage and other polluting activities, incorporating currently externalized costs, would go a long way towards eliminating abuse of the environment. The only problem is that it won't happen because nobody actually wants a free market - they all want it tilted in their direction.