I'm all in favor of making conventional power generation more expensive by accounting for externalities. What I think is a fallacy is that this will per force lead to technological innovation.

Cap and trade, or even better cap and auction, or best of all cap and dividend, will harvest "low hanging fruit". However, without effective research and development in the New Energy Economy and investment in complementary infrastructure, the supply of "low hanging fruit" will run out and the cost of meeting a cap will be greater than it needs to be.


I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.