Talk:Libertarian Lexicon

From Libertarian Wiki

This is an important idea, and kinda fun, but really messy (disorganized) and seems to be about individual prejudices as much as it is about libertarianism. For example, there is pretty harsh treatment of sustainable technology and renewable energy, but there is nothing inherently anti-libertarian about these concepts. The fact that some folk want to force these things on us does not make them inherently bad, just like the fact that some folk want to prohibit drugs does not make them inherently good. In fact, I think sustainable technology and renewable energy tend to enable economic independence, which facilitates political independence, so these ideas could be integrated into libertarianism. Adam 11:11, 23 Mar 2005 (PST)

Much of this anti-renewable attitude comes from me. Most of the interest in renewables comes from government subsidies and mandates. For example, IIRC, the subsidy for wind power is 1.8 cents/kwh, which is about the operating cost of nuclear power including decommissioning and disposal costs. In addition every watt of wind power needs a watt of conventional power to back it up when the wind does not blow. When these tax credits lapsed for a while a few years ago, the wind power industry collapsed. Paul Studier 21:54, 23 Mar 2005 (PST)