[whimsicalism]

My comment was in reply to the self-built renewable bit at the very end.

In terms of water, I also think that water is severely underpriced for a scarce resource.

[danaris]

The problem with trying to price it is that literally everyone needs it to live. Access to clean drinking water is, and must be, a human right.

We need to find a way to limit its use for profit, while still allowing actual humans who need it to get as much of it as they need.

[HDThoreaun]

Georgists have figured this out long ago. To make a regressive tax progressive all you need to do is turn the revenue gained from it into a flat per capita tax rebate. Also residential water use is tiny. Maybe your water bill goes up $400 a year but that doesnt matter when you get a $1000 rebate because most of the tax is paid by agriculture.

[whimsicalism]

Ultimately 'profit' is the result of transitive dependencies on things people want fulfill what they are willing to pay for. But I agree that we should subsidize residential water and electricity usage. But the base price before subsidy should reflect the externalities.

[goda90]

Pricing water properly includes figuring out how much someone is drawing directly from wells on private property.