Hacker News Reader

> If we start telling people what they can and can't use legitimately-purchased energy for, we go down a dangerous path very quickly

No, you make the cost of energy take into account the cost of the carbon emissions. That's what a carbon tax is. It's not a dangerous path, it's basic economics.

View on HN

Right, that’s essentially what I’m advocating for a few replies up. The person I’m discussing it with rejected that premise the sake of argument.

I didn't reject it, I just wanted to make the simpler premise clear too, looking at the situation before talking about potential solutions.

And I didn't say anything about "telling people what they can and can't do", you pulled that out of nowhere. The earlier comments were talking about "shaming" and "what's the fuss", not legal mandates.

Also in practice a law like that is almost certainly going to be implemented as a fine, which is pretty close to a tax.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com