Carbon taxes are spoken of more and more as a way to motivate renewable clean energy and storage.

OTTAWA – Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has embraced the idea of a national consumer-based carbon tax as part of a way to fight global warming.

In a speech in Vancouver Friday, Dion said it would have to be revenue-neutral like the new system in British Columbia, where carbon taxes collected on gas, propane and other fossil fuels are returned to corporations and individuals through income tax cuts and credits.

“We can talk about what the best model for putting a price on carbon across Canada might be – but the fact is we need to just do it,” Dion said. “That is what this provincial government has done, and that is what a Liberal government will do.”

Proposed carbon taxes and the offsetting carbon credits are creating a new realm of investment strategies as well. Nevertheless, the goal of reducing carbon emissions and cleaning up the planet cannot be met too soon or taken too seriously.

Meanwhile the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is proposing another rate increase of 9% to cover the cost of maintaining the infrastructure.

Los Angeles will suffer more blackouts unless the city upgrades its electrical infrastructure, the Department of Water and Power will make the pitch again today to raise rates.

Last fall, the City Council sent back the rate proposal amid questions on how the money would be spent.

But this time the utility appears to have more support, and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has urged the council to hike electric rates by 9 percent over three years and water rates by 6percent over two years.

The electrical grid infrastructure is in dire need of repair and I have seen cost estimates in the trillions of dollars for worldwide upgrades. This is one of the reasons, I believe, that decentralized energy is now coming to the forefront.