We’re way behind the curve on climate change. Only after we have a new President is the US likely to take action to limit greenhouse gasses. Meanwhile the artic ice sheet is vanishing faster than any of our models predicted, and the world is emitting more carbon than even the most pessimistic IPCC projections.
Given that backdrop, it’s too late to wait for some new technology to come along and save us, be it cellulosic ethanol or carbon capture and storage. Investors should keep that in mind, too.
When the world wakes up to the urgency of Climate Change, more money will be spent on near term solutions than research into new technology.
The scale of the problem is daunting, which is why I believe there is such a temptation to invest our hopes in new technology, as opposed to investing our dollars in the technology we have today, which can take us most of the way we want to go, if only we can muster the political capital (the cost is negligible, because the efficient use of energy almost always than pays for itself and then some.)
That’s why I’m calling for a Clean Energy Marshall Plan.
