I'm not sure I'm as optimistic as Krugman but the attempt to reduce the use of from renewable energy is likely a huge mistake (in terms of dynamic efficiency):
Not that long ago, calls for a move to wind and solar power were widely perceived as impractical if not hippie-dippy silly. Some of that contempt lingers; my sense is that many politicians and some businesspeople still think of renewable energy as marginal, still imagine that real men burn stuff and serious people focus on good old-fashioned fossil fuels.
But the truth is nearly the opposite, certainly when it comes to electricity generation. Believers in the primacy of fossil fuels, coal in particular, are now technological dead-enders; they, not foolish leftists, are our modern Luddites. Unfortunately, they can still do a lot of damage.
About the technology: As recently as 2010, it still consistently cost more to generate electricity from sun and wind than from fossil fuels. But that gap has already been eliminated, and this is just the beginning. Widespread use of renewable energy is still a new thing, which means that even without major technological breakthroughs we can expect to see big further cost reductions as industries move “down the learning curve” — that is, find better and cheaper ways to operate as they accumulate experience. …
But there is no longer any reason to believe that it would be hard to drastically “decarbonize” the economy. Indeed, there is no reason to believe that doing so would impose any significant economic cost. The realistic debate is about how hard it will be to get from 80 to 100 percent decarbonization.
For now, however, the problem isn’t technology — it’s politics. …
What can I say? You should know how this article ends.
This morning I answered the question: "How's blogging going?"
Blogging is tough these days. Other than Pruitt dismantling Federal environmental policy and ignoring/undermining benefit-cost analysis (and then there is Zinke) I'm not finding much inspiration.And then there are days like today where I'm just a grumpy old guy: http://www.env-econ.net/2018/04/what-should-a-reviewer-do-when-the-journal-increases-the-costs-of-providing-a-review.html
Note: The big news is that the New York Times allowed me to copy and past these excerpts.
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