The problem of Tiefensee is, that he is caught in traditional environmentalists thinking and this means often ignorance to any side effects outside a specific milieu. But these inefficient suggestions make normal people to think they have done a lot (or enough) for the environment, while the society as whole only creeps to sustainability. And this plays a role. Most people do not evaluate the effects of their actions on the environment for every single action. So the feeling of having done enough, has a lot of impact.

And with regard to his harmonsation dreams, that is really not new. New would be, if a country with lower gas taxes than all his neighbours would propose harmonisation, not when a country that has higher taxes (and therefore loses tax revenue from 'fuel tourism') proposes it. I would be seriously surprised if this becomes some kind of EU legislation.

Der Amerikaner ist die Orchidee unter den Menschen
Volker Pispers

Chemical factories are criticised for other reasons: Mainly that a lot of them churn out substances that have not been rigorously tested for safety and efficacy.

As for nuclear plants, that may well look silly today, where the waste disposal problems have been if not solved then at least substantially mitigated, but do you really think that that progress would have happened if not for a strong lobby against "burn and dump" nuclear plants?

If you do, I invite you to take a look at the hardrock mining industry, where the waste disposal problems have simple technical solutions... But these are only implemented when substantial political pressure is applied. And if after examining that exhibit, you still think that substantial progress would have been made in nuclear waste management and disposal if the industry had been left to its own devices, then I have some $100 oil futures I want to sell.

And, of course, opposition to nuclear power might look less silly when you consider the fact that proliferation of peaceful nuclear technology makes it easier for countries to expand into - shall we say - less benign uses of the atom.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

And what kind of additional sales taxes are there in other countries?

The measure is not at all regressive, it is progressive, although still selective. And that is a very big problem.

Der Amerikaner ist die Orchidee unter den Menschen
Volker Pispers

German construction code involves prescriptions on heat insulation since 1978, strengthened successively. In addition, there have been and are subsidies for building renovation, aimed at the 73% of the 17.3 million homes in Germany that were built before. Between 1990 and 2005, despite continuing single family homes expansion especially in the East, these measures led to an overall 13% reduction of CO2 emissions from [heating] homes.

The current program for building insulation is the CO2-Gebäudesanierungsprogramm of the KfW ( = CO2 building renovation program of the Credit Institute for Reconstruction [<-post-WWII origins]). It was started by the Schröder government in 2001, but enhanced in 2006 and 2007. In fact, the responsible ministry is Tiefensee's.

The program isd primarily aimed at homeowners. Budget is presently over a billion annually.  In 2006, €1.5 billion of credit subventions went into credits of €9.6 billion in credits and €11 billion in investments to renovate 265,000 homes. (If you do the calculation, at this rate, it would take half a century to finish with pre-1978 homes. Faster would be better, but already this is respetable; I wonder what other country has something better.)

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}