Green Electricity Costs a Bundle

The lesson from the federal government's failed backing of Solyndra is not that the United States should abandon energy innovation. It is that the government should not try to pick industry winners in the race to replace fossil fuels with an alternative. Solyndra is the now-bankrupt solar-panel manufacturer that received a $535 million federal loan guarantee in 2009 to build a factory based on the proposition that solar power should be captured through solar cylinders rather than the more established technology of silicon wafers.

Copenhagen Consensus Center President Bjørn Lomborg says global warming will have “mostly negative impacts”, but people need to have a “sense of proportion”.

“When temperatures rise, you’re going to see more heat, and hence more heatwaves and hence more heat deaths,” he told Sky News host Andrew Bolt.

“But what you don’t hear is that when temperatures rise, you also see less cold, less cold waves, and hence fewer cold deaths.”

Energy costs are climbing out of control. A gallon of gas costs nearly $1 more than a year ago. Americans are experiencing sticker shock this winter on home-heating costs. Though part of this is due to the world restarting after the pandemic, climate policies are increasingly driving prices up. We need a change of direction.