fatvegan

The NSW Minister for Energy, Ian Macdonald, says he prefers to let the market decide which types of renewable fuels to use, "rather than the Government picking winners".

How solar ran out of puff

This might be a good example of neoliberal dogma resulting in naive decisions. Or perhaps by saying they don't want to support any particular energy source over another, it makes it easier not to support any of them. I doubt anyone cares which non-polluting energy source we end up with. No one is insisting that solar be the one we go with. But it's probably the one that would take off with some government help. The government needn't even help solar directly. A carbon-tax would probably be more than enough to make solar flourish, and isn't really even government aid because it's only levelling the playing field.

In this case, it isn't about the government picking a winner. As a society, we need an alternative to what we have and the government needs to find the best way of getting it. At the moment, the best way doesn't appear to be leaving it all to the markets. There is a reason we normally let markets do things. Normally they do a good job of things. It isn't just some rule we have to follow. But the government tends to treat it like there is a rule.

Sometimes I wonder if the current government is more interested in impressing foreign economics celebrities than actually solving problems.

I think the government should subsidise renewable energy far more. I even think using tax money to research solar might be good. It would be money very constructively down the drain even if something else better comes along. Risking a few billion dollars on it seems like a small price to pay for the chance that the research discovers something nifty.