"Carbon prices alone, however, will not be high enough -- at least for the next few decades -- to prompt a large-scale roll-out of renewable energy, nor will they be sufficient to promote carbon capture and sequestration. Prices will be set for many years to come by cheaper sources of credit -- energy efficiency and project-based mechanisms in the developing world. So a carbon price is an essential driver towards a lower carbon economy, but additional policy interventions will still be required."
--World Economic Forum Report, "Green Investing: Towards a Clean Energy Infrastructure," January 2009
While I agree that we must control carbon emissions, I'm skeptical that additional policy interventions will be effective. We continue to ignore the simple fact that the combustion of fossil fuels is still SO much less expensive than renewable generation. Until we close this cost gap, renewables will be adopted by only those corporations that place a high PR value on being viewed as green. The rest of industry will maintain tried and true ROI analysis to select the cheapest method of generating steam and electricity.
Doug Simmers - President
A Better Focus is a small research and manufacturing business dedicated to achieving the "Best Cost Concentration" of solar energy.
Posted by: Doug Simmers at August 16, 2009 9:46 PMwww.abetterfocus.com