We go deep on industrial policy with Todd Tucker of the Roosevelt Institute: what it is, why it’s needed, what Biden’s particular version of it looks like, and how it could evolve if he wins a second term.
I do think promoting RE at large scale is a lot easier now than it ever has been because sometime over the past decade it crossed cost thresholds that make it a lower cost choice than fossil fuels. A lot of the hard work of making it work is behind us - indicative of enough people apart from dedicated activists taking the climate problem and it's challenges seriously. Including a persistent minority within government agencies and even political parties that have never let the issue be pushed aside entirely.
Clean energy economics seems to be experiencing a sweet spot and policy seems more about taking advantage of that rather than (until recently) having to push past a price barrier. And more likely to deliver result because of it. I expect the greatest achievements are when the conditions are right and they seem to be more right than we've seen so far.
I do think promoting RE at large scale is a lot easier now than it ever has been because sometime over the past decade it crossed cost thresholds that make it a lower cost choice than fossil fuels. A lot of the hard work of making it work is behind us - indicative of enough people apart from dedicated activists taking the climate problem and it's challenges seriously. Including a persistent minority within government agencies and even political parties that have never let the issue be pushed aside entirely.
Clean energy economics seems to be experiencing a sweet spot and policy seems more about taking advantage of that rather than (until recently) having to push past a price barrier. And more likely to deliver result because of it. I expect the greatest achievements are when the conditions are right and they seem to be more right than we've seen so far.
Thanks for an incredible episode. Cheers up my day a lot.
Great podcast, David. To which of Brett Christophers' books were you referring in the question you asked?