Not that long ago, the only people thinking about energy were the ones selling it … and Amory Lovins. That’s mainly because, with the exception of that unpleasantness in the ’70s, it’s been cheap for a long while. Why worry?
As for climate, folks have been preoccupied with arguing that it, like the moon landing and evolution, exists.
As a result, making policy in an energy-constrained, climate-imbalanced world is a fairly new undertaking for our fair democracy. Lots of people, inside and outside government, been thrown into it with partial information, pre-existing biases, and vaguely recalled fragments of folk wisdom.
Thus: Misconceptions. Mistaken conventional wisdom. Myths. They abound.
Forthwith, an effort to debunk the main myths standing in the way of smart climate/energy policy.
Please comment on the articles, discuss them, dispute them, and if you’re not into the whole public sharing thing, send your thoughts to me at droberts at grist dot org. I hope to add to this series as time goes on, and I hope to make it a collective undertaking.
Myth: There is a “free market” in energy 
Myth: Pricing carbon will destroy the economy 
Myth: Tackling climate change requires fundamental technological breakthroughs 
Myth: Using less energy = sacrifice 
Myth: Solving climate change is primarily about finding cleaner sources of energy 
Myth: Europe’s experience shows that cap-and-trade can’t work 
Myth: Consensus on policy is possible even among those who disagree about climate change 
Myth: Unlike cap-and-trade, a carbon tax is simple, immune to manipulation, & politically palatable 
Myth: Climate policy must be simple 
Myth: Waxman-Markey gives away 85 percent of allowances to polluters 
