McCain Global Warming Plan

John McCain unveiled his plan for combating global warming yesterday. His plan includes:

He also set a goal that by 2050, the country will reduce carbon emissions to a level 60 percent below that emitted in 1990.

Let's put pencil to paper to see just how realistic this is. Assuming a modest 3% annual growth rate for our economy, spanning the 60 years from 1990 to 2050, we have, by the "miracle of compound interest," an overall growth factor of

(1.03)^60 = 5.9

So in 2050 our economy will likely be about 6 times the size it was in 1990. McCain wants us to be 60% under the the 1990 level of CO2 emmissions, so that gives a factor of

5.9/(1-0.6) = 14.73

The bottom line is that McCain wants us to produce roughly 1/15-th the amount of carbon per unit of GDP, compared to how we did in 1990. Good luck with that John. Nuclear power anyone?

Now, I don't think McCain's plan is any more absurd than that purposed by Obama or Clinton. Still, it's a disappointment that none of these candidates seems capable of creating a plan that is at all realistic. I suppose it is due to a combination of politics and scientific and economic ignorance.