Articles by Christopher Mims

Graph: The embarrassingly paltry sums government gives renewable energy

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Gee, we wish Obama would rip on Perry's denialism in public

“You’ve got a governor whose state is on fire, denying climate change,” said President Obama at a fundraiser in Silicon Valley on Sunday, allegedly. It's like he's been reading Grist! Or more like he made the obvious connection that everyone with even a lizard-like sense for irony would make. It’s nice to see the president […]

Solyndra shows the government is doing its job, for once

Solyndra's failure isn’t an embarrassment for the government, says Joe Nocera in The New York Times. In fact, it’s exactly what we should expect from a government program designed to fund risky, early-stage technologies that wouldn't otherwise find traction among private-sector funders of research and development. If there were no Solyndras in this world, says Nocera, it would mean government was funding precisely the wrong kind of breakthrough energy research.

Solar industry is strong like bull