NINE NORTH EASTERN US STATES ARE TAKING PART IN THE NEW REGIONAL EMISSIONS TRADING INITIATIVE. MANY OF THEM HAD ALREADY TAKEN IMPRESSIVE STEPS TO REDUCE EMISSIONS OF GREENHOUSE GASES EVEN BEFORE THE TRADING IDEA WAS CONCEIVED. NEW YORK STATE, FOR EXAMPLE, OFFERS A TAX INCENTIVE PROGRAMME FOR DEVELOPERS AND BUILDERS OF ‘GREEN’ BUILDINGS SUCH AS 4 TIMES SQUARE, THE HOME TO CONDÉ NAST. THIS SKYSCRAPER WAS DESIGNED WITH EVERY MODERN DEVICE FOR MAKING LIFE COMFORTABLE, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME USING MINIMUM ENERGY. AMONG THE MANY FEATURES OF THE CONDÉ NAST BUILDING WHICH HELP TO REDUCE EMISSIONS ARE PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS ON THE TOP 19 FLOORS AND FUEL CELLS TO PRODUCE EXTRA ENERGY. THERE IS ALSO EFFICIENT LIGHTING WHICH TURNS OFF WHEN ROOMS ARE LEFT UNOCCUPIED.
wow… a building that has lights that turn off. Whatever will we think of next?
I appreciate the fact that we can’t expect to change the world overnight, but can we really hold up the Conde Nast building in New York as a beacon of hope for a world that takes environmental issues seriously?! And the emmisions trading initiative just sounds like another opportunity for greedy corporations to fiddle the books, like Enron did with their energy trading initiatives.
Without knowing the details of the emissions trading scheme, it sounds very much like the game played by the US automakers in order to get arouund federal emissions regulations for total “corporate emissions” of the cars produced.
Trading carbon on a mercantile exchange sounds like just another way to make profits on futures without actually producing anything tangible.