EnviroWonk writer Marsha Johnston attended the American Solar Energy Society conference earlier this month in San Diego

Many policy makers and industry executives see cap and trade systems as a solution for removing carbon pollution from the atmosphere. While debate continues on the efficacy of these systems, several panelists at the recent American Solar Energy Society conference expressed some skepticism. Former US Senator Gary Hart noted that a carbon tax is a simpler way to resolve the problem. "Unfortunately," he added, "we can’t even say the 'T-word' anymore. Somehow we've decided that we no longer have to pay for what we need as a society. Maybe someday that will change and we can get back to a responsible discussion of policy."

On the same panel, Michael Dworkin, director of the Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vermont Law School, quipped, "When people talk about cap and trade, they talk a lot about trade, but not much about caps. If trading is just a mechanism to find the cheapest way to comply, it’s not of much use." Later that day, Kathleen Law, Michigan state representative and author of the first US feed-in tariff, said of cap and trade: "It is just a means for money to change hands, what purpose does it serve? We don’t have a lot of time, we have to act now to move this forward, and a feed-in tariff will accomplish that."

"We need strong caps, dramatic reductions," said Van Jones, founder and president of Green for All. "We must collect on this, and invest to protect the bottom one-fifth of society and invest in new technologies." Jones noted that in the last few years, "government has been on the side of the polluters and the problem-makers, not the solutions. Markets work based on rules and government has got to get the rules right." Amen.