William Tucker argues that the nation’s current obsession with "alternative energy" may spark a financial debacle comparable to the mortgage meltdown:
Governments have assumed that windmills, solar collectors, and biofuels are the wave of the future. Therefore the only logical course is to hasten that future by subsidizing it and forcing utilities to adopt it ahead of schedule. What’s lost in this is that windmills are producing almost no useful electricity and will become a huge drag on the economy — just as biofuels have done nothing to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and have just led to hundreds of millions in wasted investments.
Tucker wants nuclear power plants instead. So do I. But the genius of a carbon or gas tax (the Dish’s favored policy in this area) is that it does not pick winners or losers; it creates a disincentive to keep using fuels that hurt our security and environment.
The Dish 