stuper1 wrote:What if it's a big hoax, and we create an even bigger national and global government for nothing?
Having said that, I have nothing against green energy, as long as it makes sense after considering all externalities.
If we're going to consider the externalities (including bigger government), let's do the same for fossil fuels. These would include:
* Price volatility; government, commercial, and personal budget sensitivity to fluctuating fossil fuel costs
* Systemic fragility from energy sources originating far from their point of consumption and requiring large amounts of energy to produce, extract, and transport
* Geopolitical tension and instability caused by a great deal of fossil fuel production taking place in countries ruled by bad actors (Russia, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, etc). For example Russia wields its fossil fuel production like a weapon over the Baltic states, making them wholly dependent on it even though they hate Russia.
* Mine/well pollution (heavy metal buildups, tailings ponds, aquifer contamination, earthquakes, etc)
* Mine/well eventual cleanup costs
* Bigger government caused by the above (wouldn't it be great if we could get rid of most of the EPA because our energy generation didn't pollute?)
* Public health effects (asthma, cancer, heavy metal contamination, etc)
* Effect on government budgets from providing medical care to the poor and indigent for the aforementioned issues (face it, this isn't going to stop)
And on and on...
Look, I'm not a blind zealot or a hippy-dippy tree-hugger. But I see a lot of frowny-face misanthropy from conservative-minded people these days regarding renewable energy sources that just doesn't make sense to me. I think it's the past history of having been pushed by lame hippies and big government types, but times have changed. Renewable energy sources are economically outcompeting nearly all fossil fuels on installed cost alone, not even taking into consideration a comparison of their externalities. These energy sources offer lifetime self-sufficiency and freedom from dependence on the fragile fuel infrastructure. Individuals, corporations, and municipalities can even choose to go off the larger grid completely eliminating all future electricity costs and encouraging local energy independence instead of being dependent on a huge national collective system. These things should be a conservative or libertarian's dream IMHO.