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Comment by baggy_trough | Hacker News Reader

Unless we can come up with carbon neutral energy sources that are cheaper than (untaxed) fossil fuels, we are going to wind up needing something like this.

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It's always fascinating that people are willing to consider geoengineering the climate of the entire planet instead of re-engineering the tax code. Tells us a lot about the system we're living in.

We can block the sun out or shoot ourselves to Mars, but apparently can't pass a law on the consumption of oil

It's easier to imagine and end to the world than an end to capitalism.

Indeed!

> but apparently can't pass a law on the consumption of oil

Geoengineering requires no other change on anyone's part. Except for the funding (which could fit into any government budget with little notice), nothing changes for most people.

It feels to me that the basic idea is that something changes for pretty much all the people, but nobody really knows what.

The problem is global, so taxes in the United States that reduce fossil fuel consumption will move consumption elsewhere while incurring a political cost. It's going to be very hard to get, for example, Peru to increase its fossil fuel taxes to match.

Perhaps the United States and other rich countries could subsidize Peru and friends. The political cost for that will be very high.

Carbon-neutral energy sources are already cheaper than fossil fuels. The problem is inertia.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesellsmoor/2019/06/15/renewa...

On a bright and windy day renewables can drive the market price of electricity at the busbar below zero. You need something to fill the gap when renewables are not available. Grid scale storage is in sight but adds to the cost. Right now in U.S. And Euro zones we burn methane in gas turbines which is better than coal unless you are losing more than 1% of the methane on the way from the well.

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