Quote:
Originally Posted by psicodude
I think the point is that the government didn't impose laws or standards to make this happen and it wasn't because of public pressure. This happened because the "Green" option just happened to be the cheapest/most profitable one. Maybe the government should focus less on trying to legislate environmentally friendly choices and more on making them cheaper.
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"Just happened to" is the key phrase there. Most businesses would produce 10 times the C02 from their energy usage as long as it was slightly cheaper than the cleaner alternative. Examples like this are precisely why governments introduce market incentivies (carbon taxes, clean energy subsidies, etc.) to reduce emissions. Businesses aren't going to make this change themselves because they're in the business of making money, so it falls on governments to artificially change the market if we want to encourage cleaner energy. I'm still unsure why this instance is seen as a counter example to the prevailing energy policy; it reaffirms it if anything.