There are other problems with relying on market forces to drive a “renewable revolution.” One of those was highlighted in a recent issue of the Economist, under the tantalizing headline: “Clean energy’s dirty secret.”
This wasn’t, as you might think, a form of clickbait for coal industry executives or Australian politicians looking for a “dirty” centerfold spread on how wind farms and solar panels are bad for the environment. As a mouthpiece for the liberal wing of the Anglo-American bourgeoisie, the Economist is prepared to admit the benefits of moving toward a decarbonized global economy.
The “dirty secret” is that renewables are too cheap. “It is no longer far-fetched,” the magazine says, “to think that the world is entering an era of clean, unlimited and cheap power.” There is, however, “a $20 trillion hitch”:
To get from here to there requires huge amounts of investment over the next few decades…Normally investors like putting their money into electricity because it offers reliable returns. Yet green energy has a dirty secret. The more it is deployed, the more it lowers the price of power from any source.
The problem, in other words, is that the rise of renewables is making it more difficult for big energy companies to make the kind of profits they’re accustomed to. The Economist argues that this will create a drag on investment and make the transition to a sustainable energy system impossible without direct government intervention: “Theoretically, if renewables were to make up 100 percent of the market, the wholesale price of electricity would fall to zero, deterring all new investment that was not completely subsidized.”
Also important when discussing capitalism and climate change: The system itself makes a transition from fossil fuels impossible.
Why capitalism clings to fossil fuels
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