Pirate's Cove

See, there are some Republicans who are Believers in anthropogenic climate change. Some are rather hardcore, some are just casual believers. Some are members of the Cult of Climastrology, pushing carbon taxes (such as George Shultz), others push different solutions, ones that even skeptics can get behind because they aren’t about taxes, fees, and increased government control over our lives and everything, while attempting to make our lives better. If we could dramatically increase the power generation from solar panels while decreasing their cost, along with better storage from batteries, making it easy for homeowners to afford this, that would be a good thing, right?

Nope

Dear Republicans: Innovation isn’t climate policy

For the first time in recent memory, congressional Republicans claim to have a climate strategy, with House Republicans rolling out proposals to encourage low-carbon innovation, including legislation to support technologies like nuclear energy and carbon capture and storage. Similarly, prominent GOP Sens. including John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) are pushing for an innovation-focused policy response to the threats of climate change.

But while innovation is a critically important complement to a climate strategy, it is not nearly enough. The United States needs policies aimed at producing a carbon-neutral economy.

Innovation is not climate policy. It’s Super Bowl week, so let’s think of energy technologies as football players. Team Fossil Fuels has historically been dominant: the United States gets roughly 80 percent of its energy from coal, oil and natural gas.

Meanwhile, Team Carbon Free is the scrappy underdog: thanks to remarkable cost reductions in solar energy, wind energy, and batteries, Team Carbon Free is quickly catching up to Team Fossil Fuels.

Sigh. So, what is better “climate policy”?

Rather than banking on technological breakthroughs, we need a game plan that works backward from a winning outcome — climate policies that align the incentives of producers, consumers, and investors with a future carbon-neutral economy.

There’s good news for the Republicans turning their attention to climate change. Some of the strongest climate policies, like emissions pricing and market-based performance standards, can rapidly reduce emissions within a robustly growing economy.

So, basically, policies that punish citizens with taxes and fees, skyrocket their cost of living, and control their lives are preferred by the Cult of Climastrology. It just goes to show that they don’t want to solve anything (not that you can solve nature being mostly responsible for the current warm period), they want power and control.