Economics and the Migration to Clean Energy
In response to my post: If the Move To Renewables Is Inevitable, Why Not Do It Now? frequent commenter Larry Lemmert writes: “The birth of the solar age will not come without a lot of birth pangs. It is too simplistic to think that the economics do not matter and that the jobs created as the new paradigm kicks in will offset the jobs lost in industries impacted negatively by the change.”
Thanks, Larry. The most credible things I’ve seen suggest a significant economic boom associated with the development of cleantech — starting with energy efficiency, but expanding into clean energy. I base this on a large number of interviews, but principally with my talk for my second book with Dr. Robert Pollin. The link above will take you to a few of his most recent publications.
A reader just sent me this excellent 
Here’s a good 
Earlier today I had an interesting conversation I thought I’d share — on a potential video project based on the vicissitudes of the energy industry. Yes, renewables are making progress, albeit slow, but this is happening in an extremely difficult economic and political climate. I.e., there are hundreds of millions of dollars being spent in an effort to ensure that the renewable energy industry fails. 
A note from a reader in Zambia:
Frequent commenter Tim Kingston sent me this piece called “
I was just telling frequent commenter Tim Kingston that I’m not sure how much I want to cover the dangers of fracking. There’s plenty of material on this subject — more every day, and I’m not sure I can add too much value here. I DO, however, want to make it clear that the concept of natural gas fracking as a gateway to clean energy is spurious for two independent reasons: 
The growing concern for environment and greenhouse gases from the number of conventional energy production options has put forth the need to find a competent alternative. Fortunately you have a number of renewable or green energy sources, which can easily produce energy to run the wheels of life. These include solar, wind, hydro, biomass, tidal generation that are operated in a number of ways as compared to the traditional fossil fuel based technologies. 
