Clean Energy should be Competitive within the Decade
In a recent announcement, United States Energy Secretary Steven Chu predicted renewable energy sources will become competitive with oil and gas prices on the world market within the decade.
“Before maybe the end of this decade, I see wind and solar being cost-competitive without subsidy with new fossil fuel,” Chu told an event at the Pew Charitable Trusts.”
“So the country and the companies who develop those renewable energy and resources that become cost competitive without subsidy all of a sudden have a world market. And, boy, we can’t lose that world market,” he said.”
At the heart of the energy debate, the price of investing in clean energy today should be weighed against the costs already associated with existing energy sources, such as coal, as well as, and perhaps more importantly, the future costs and repercussions (both environmental as well as economic) of maintaining our increasingly outdated energy policy.
Secretary Chu’s announcement adds a critical economic element to the clean energy and climate change debate. Looking forward, perhaps the case for green technology investment can move out of the realm of politically infused controversy and into a real discussion of the energy options facing the U.S.
