U.S. Migration to Renewables Happening Slowly—Here’s Why
Because I live in the U.S., and I’m most familiar with the goings on here, most of my posts concern the migration to renewable energy, albeit painfully slow, that’s occurring within my country’s borders. There are a few main reasons why the rest of the world is making this happen far faster than we Americans are:
• We tend to have more lawyers involved in our business dealings than any other country on Earth. When powerful interests want to maintain the status quo—in energy, or in any other field—they can hire a bunch of lawyers to gum things up for years. This applies to specific high-profile cases, e.g., Chevron’s dealings in Ecuador, but it also applies on a day-to-day, system-wide level. To take a couple of examples, the same solar project that would take months or even years to work its way through the legal system here requires only a few days in Germany. The same tools used for the formation of capital formation for oil and gas exploration (master limited partnerships) are illegal for solar and wind, making the cost of capital higher for renewable energy, and thus a competitive environment based on a level playing field more difficult to achieve.
• Our legal system also enables corporations to spend as much as they like in manipulating the outcome of our elections. Proponents of renewable energy who run for office here are often grossly outspent by their opponents who are supported by massive campaign contributions from the fossil industry. What Koch Industries is doing to emerge victorious in the 2014 mid-term elections here is unprecedented in history, but one has the sense that it’s just the beginning, as clean energy, especially cheap wind, in some places offered at $0.02/kWh, begins to eat into their profits. Readers who have the stomach for it can click this link to Google “Koch Industries Election Spending” and check out some of the 266,000 articles on the subject.
• We have an abundance of cheap natural gas. Thus far, those Americans who are concerned about the safety of fracking have been largely frustrated in the attempts to prevent it.
It is for reasons like these that I need to keep my eye on what’s happening elsewhere. Here’s a wonderful article on the progress being made in clean energy within the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).
And here’s another that suggests that the continent of Africa could be the new “epicenter” for renewables. I’m particularly fond of this idea–one made even more feasible because of the lack of an existing energy infrastructure; there’s very little for existing interests and their corruptive influence to hold onto.
