Fair Price Energy and a typical household
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Making “Making a difference” Easier
    Given the choice, most of us would choose lifestyles that are healthy for our planet and do not compromise national security.  Unfortunately, our high quality of life is possible only with the consumption of energy.  Almost all of this energy currently comes from burning fossil fuels, which cause global warming and enrich regimes hostile to the United States.  However, there are things that we can do to lessen the impact of our lifestyle.  For example, we could drive more efficient cars or contract with our utility provider to obtain our energy from wind power.  Choices such as these provide a tangible benefit to society, but often cost more and provide little benefit to the individual.  The purpose of Fair Price Energy is to reward these choices.  Below, I show how Fair Price Energy would benefit a family making “green” choices.
How we “buy” our energy
   When we think of “buying energy” we usually think of buying gas at the pump or paying our utility bill: these are our direct energy purchases. More than half of the energy we consume, though, comes from our indirect energy purchases: this is the energy used to produce, package, and transport the products and services we buy.
    For example, when producing a box of cereal, energy is required to plant, nurture, and harvest the grain, to process the grain into cereal, to make the cardboard box and plastic liner, and to transport the final product to your store.  Of course, the “energy content” for different products can vary greatly.
Fair prices for energy intensive products
   Energy fees would increase the price of dangerous and dirty fuels, more accurately reflecting their cost to our security and the environment.  Almost immediately, we would see changes in the cost of  fuel purchases and the prices of energy intensive products.
    This would quickly reward consumers who drive more efficient vehicles and would encourage utilities to switch to cleaner energy sources. Businesses that make energy-intensive products would also quickly adapt by switching to new technologies not subject to energy fees, or by manufacturing their products more efficiently.
    The effect of these price increases would be to encourage all of us to conserve energy and invest in new technologies.
The power to choose wisely
    Perhaps the most important aspect of Fair Price Energy is that the increased costs of energy fees would NOT be an undue burden on American families. Because Energy Fees would make the true energy costs of goods and services visible, and all taxpayers would receive an equal Fee Refund, American families would be empowered to make wise choices about their energy consumption. Average energy consumers would have all of their increased costs covered by the size of their Fee Refund, and because less-expensive items would also bee the less energy-intensive ones, consumers of the most efficiently produced products would always come out ahead.
Some example numbers
        Carbon and security fees that more accurately reflect the true cost of gasoline might be set at $0.75/gallon (for a total fee of $1.50/gallon of gas).  If similar carbon fees were set for coal and natural gas, the combined annual revenue would total nearly $600 billion dollars in fees! (See lots of gory details in this PDF document).  When returned equally to all taxpayers, this would mean that we would each receive a check for about $4,000 (a family with two taxpayers would receive $8,000). The chart below shows how this would measure up against the typical energy usage for a family of four with two taxpayers.
    The remaining $5400 would cover increased indirect energy costs for goods and services, and anything left over would be “money in the bank” that they family could save or spend however they chose. The more “energy wise” products and services they chose to use, the greater their spending power would be.