TEQ's pipe dream or reality?

callum · Post by **callum** » 14 Dec 2009, 03:35

I was recently alerted to the idea of TEQ's in a book titled 'The Last Oil Shock' by David Strahan. I am a little un-educated in this field but at the moment I cannot see any drawbacks to such a system being implemented in the UK and by extention the EU and the World.

I have tried some Google searches to find out if this idea is becoming a reality any time soon or whether it is just another idea to debate over.

Does anyone have any links to news reports or associated articles on this subject, or does anyone have an idea of the date (if at all) that the TEQ system might be implemented?

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 14 Dec 2009, 04:15

It's unlikely to be implemented, as far as I can see, because the EU can't fiddle it to the advantage of big business quite as easily as it can Cap and Trade.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 14 Dec 2009, 12:31

TEQs (or something similar such as cap-and-dividend) are destined to become one of those great, world-changing ideas for a world that doesn't want to change.

Unlikely to ever be implemented, mainly due to fairness, a concept in conflict with the current economic model.

And Callum, welcome. Keep questioning. Don't stop.

Shaun Chamberlin · Post by **Shaun Chamberlin** » 14 Dec 2009, 15:43

Dear Callum,

You will find the information on TEQs' progress towards implementation here, including the various Government reports and statements on the matter:
http://www.teqs.net/indepth.html#Progress

As the others said above, it is a significant ask to implement a system which both tries to genuinely address fairness and 'fiddling' and provides a guarantee that carbon budgets are actually achieved.

In the current political climate it looks unlikely to happen in the next few years, but perhaps with the struggles of the Copenhagen process Governments can be pushed to look to something a little more 'edgy'.

Shaun

JohnB · Post by **JohnB** » 14 Dec 2009, 17:03

Shaun, I read The Transition Timeline yesterday, and there's a big emphasis in it on TEQs. As it depends on the government to introduce it, I tend to agree with kenneal and emordnilap that it's not likely to happen. Do you think things have changed since writing the book?

Shaun Chamberlin · Post by **Shaun Chamberlin** » 14 Dec 2009, 23:13

JohnB wrote:Shaun, I read The Transition Timeline yesterday, and there's a big emphasis in it on TEQs. As it depends on the government to introduce it, I tend to agree with kenneal and emordnilap that it's not likely to happen. Do you think things have changed since writing the book?

As in, you read the whole thing yesterday? Gosh! Hope you found it helpful.

Well, as I said above, I think the implementation of TEQs in the next few years is not probable, but it's a possibility worth working towards, just like the rest of the Transition Vision outlined in the book. And I think the political debate is just beginning (and only beginning) to think about the question of how to actually implement emissions cuts. Which is, of course, where TEQs comes in.

As David Fleming put it in Energy and the Common Purpose, “Large-scale problems do not require large-scale solutions,
they require small-scale solutions within a large-scale framework”

I believe that TEQs could provide that key framework to support and empower community action, and in working to provide a framework at that scale I don't see how to avoid engagement with government and all the snail's pace progress that generally entails (nothing's changed in that regard since the book came out, no).

Nonetheless, it is those small-scale solutions at the community level that are the key to addressing our global challenges (for where else does all the energy demand and carbon emission come from?), and framework or no, we need to get on. As I said in my closing thoughts in the book, probably for the good of our minds and souls as much as anything.

JohnB · Post by **JohnB** » 14 Dec 2009, 23:28

Shaun Chamberlin wrote:As in, you read the whole thing yesterday? Gosh! Hope you found it helpful.

It amazed me too! Do I get a prize?

Actually I was interested in seeing how I could apply the idea of creating a timeline and backcasting on a very small scale to creating the eco-hamlet I'm about to start work on. I like the idea of creating a vision of what it could be like in 20 years time, and working out how to get there. I just got a bit carried away with my reading!

frank_begbie · Post by **frank_begbie** » 01 Jul 2019, 17:15

Talk about delusion?
So if the world starts rationing our energy use and reducing pollution the planet will survive? We would still be adding to the shit in the atmosphere just at a more equal rate between the population.
And what about the pollution that's already there?
The shit is still going to hit the fan with what damage we have already done.

The world wants to carry on with business as usual while saving Mankind.

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 01 Jul 2019, 18:47

TEQs work on a reducing ration each year.