Better than Nothing

Every little bit helps. This little philosophical idea is one that I tend to espouse. Obama’s proposed cut of $4 billion of Oil subsidies is certainly a step in the right direction. Every little bit helps. As to whether the government should subsidize any type of energy production, renewable or not, my answer is 100% yes. I definitely believe that clean energy production should be heavily subsidized until the industry can support our energy needs on its own. David Kreutzer, an economist at the Heritage Foundation, does not believe that any energy producer should be subsidized. He does not know if renewables could do fine without subsidies at the moment but that eventually, the industry would be fine, once prices fell. While I understand and generally support the economic logic behind this, when it comes to ridding ourselves of fossil fuels, it is simply too late to wait for the market to make renewable energy attractive. Governments need to take the lead in making clean energy viable and affordable.

In principal I am not behind additional support for nuclear energy, the switch from coal to natural gas, and research into carbon sequestration. However, I understand that looking into these methods may be a necessary evil to help us rid ourselves of the problems we have created. If these three methods can help us fight climate change faster than clean energies, well, we may have to use them. But when dealing with the question of whether to completely eliminate all subsidies, Michael Levi says it best, “an effort to eliminate all energy subsidies without instituting better alternative policies should be understood for what it is: a recipe for cementing the dominance of traditional fossil fuels against their competitors.”