Instead, one of the better places to start reducing greenhouse gases lay in conservation. The electricity consumption of refrigerators was climbing in the 1970s until new regulations came in. Although industry experts expected costs to explode, the opposite has happened. Fridges cost less in real dollars, they have larger capacities on average, and only use as much energy as they did back in 1947 on average.
‘Once you say ‘regulation’ people get very ingenious,’ he said.
Of course, this is the antithesis of the free market ideal I hold personally. Still, the idea that monolithic regulations can spur technology advances isn’t a new one (fuel economy for instance).
So while we wait for fusion, is efficiency the key? Or is necessity, rather than government, the mother of all invention?
No answers here. Just something to ponder on a Wednesday afternoon.