In his New York Times column Monday, economist Paul Krugman argued that the only thing at stake in the next election is "the fate of the planet," given that the past 8 years of Democratic support has driven the price of renewable energy sources down, whereas even 4 years of a Republican administration would no doubt drive it right back up.
Contrary to the orthodoxy spouted at the GOP debates -- most notably by Marco Rubio, who insisted that any environmentally friendly policy would be "devastating for our economy" -- "things are actually much more hopeful...thanks to remarkable technological progress in renewable energy."
Krugman cited statistics from the investment firm Lazard that indicate that the price of producing electricity via wind power has fallen 61 percent since 2009, while the cost of doing so via solar power has fallen 82 percent over the same period. He continued, asking,
So what will it take to achieve a large-scale shift from fossil fuels to renewables, a shift to sun and wind instead of fire? Financial incentives, and they don’t have to be all that huge. Tax credits for renewables that were part of the Obama stimulus plan, and were extended under the recent budget deal, have already done a lot to accelerate the energy revolution. The Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, which if implemented will create strong incentives to move away from coal, will do much more...
Read the rest at the New York Times...
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