I actually admit, after some digging, you may have a point here. My point was more about market solutions vs big government policy. Solar and Wind typically compete with natural gas for replacement of coal plants. I for one would prefer more solar. I think subsidies for the tech we want to see to reach scale and parity faster is a decent middle ground approach that acknowledges the market forces. The problem is we tend to rip that money away all at once, rather than scale it back VERY gradually.
Even gov subsidies turn out diasterously and is frequently a big waste of money. See: the previous US administrations multi-billion dollar 'clean coal' factory that ultimately doubled it's already massive budget and was delayed repeatedly for years. And the solar company backed by the administration and touted as a great example of public/private partnership, which proceeded to go bankrupt and waste plenty of resources.
I know failure is common in all business but waste, cronyism, lack of urgency, etc all seem to affect public/private deals more than industry arrangements. Private industry is simply far better at choosing winners, coordinating capital, recruiting talent, and managing projects.
When these projects fail everyone then blames 'markets' and private industry for what happened... despite the massive involvement of government and the fact it would likely never have existed without state backing. Then use those examples as why we need negative incentives, fines, and regulations on existing industry instead.
Bill McKibben is the founder of 350.org, an international environmental organization. His is the author of more than a dozen books about the environment, most recently Oil and Honey: The Education of an Unlikely Activist.
>> a very market oriented approach, not a silly idea.
Market approached only make sense where they work. They quickly become silly when the market no longer supports the end goal. A dramatic reduction in the cost of some fossil fuels, which could happen should we all stop burning gas in our cars, may make any market approach seem very silly.
Natural gas extraction and transmission turns out to emit more methane to the point of negating its lower CO2 emission benefits. https://e360.yale.edu/features/how-climate-activists-failed-...