Sometimes the righteous actions of politicians lead to unexpected negative consequences. This is what happens with so-called carbon taxes.
Taxes on fossil fuels are designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and stimulate the development of solar and wind energy,But in reality, the carbon tax is not the best solution to protect the environment.The main obstacle to full transition to renewable energy sources remains their instability. The sun does not shine at night, and during the day in cloudy weather, the sun may not be enough. Meanwhile, electricity consumption is only rising in the dark, and this forces energy companies to look for other sources of energy.The efficiency of burning coal or gas does not depend on weather or time of year, but because energy companies can not give up fossil fuels. And more powerful solar or wind power have power suppliers, large reserves they need, so that consumers do not experience failure.
Under such conditions, the carbon tax effect is the opposite of the desired one - it forces us to switch to renewable energy, indirectly forcing them to burn more gas and coal, increasing emissions.
Solving the problem of solar and wind energy instability can be achieved through the construction of energy storage facilities with high power and capacity. Gathering energy in the course of the day, storage facilities can give it to the network at night and at night, reducing dependence on the source of electricity.
The idea of energy storage has not received industrial development and remains at the prototype level. So why not leave a meaningless tax on fossil fuels and not send these funds to build energy storage facilities?
Now energy companies sell electricity at reduced tariffs, when output volumes exceed consumption levels, and sometimes even pay consumers to take surplus energy from the grid.
Energy storage facilities will help to avoid this unreasonable situation - energy companies will be able to secretly collect excess electricity and sell it at normal market prices.
In addition, with technological developments, battery costs continue to decline. Every year, the construction of energy storage facilities will be cheaper, and those who want to invest in those projects - more and more.
Leaving the carbon tax will only accelerate this process. Energy companies will soon get their own storage facilities, reducing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions.