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by bagels 1937 days ago
The externality of the electricity use is the pollution, and increased prices due to demand.
1 comments

That's an argument for a different question, which is "should we allow people to waste electricity if they pay for it?". If your answer is that we should regulate what people are allowed to use electricity for, then we'll need to change the laws in this country.

It is very difficult to start being the moral judge for every single use of electricity. Instead, we let the free market decide in most situations. And when there are true externalities (meaning costs that borne by the broader population, e.g. car emissions) we do impose regulations to reduce those externalities.

right, we should just tax carbon emissions by just enough to pay for removing those emissions, and then use said taxes to remove said emissions.