Though I am not completely on board with what GE and other large energy companies are promoting (especially regarding the future use of coal in the energy mix), I have found what appears to be one of the most intelligent things said by a CEO of a large energy-oriented corporation...
The [conservative] ideologues "worship false idols." There are no completely free markets. The government has its hand in every industry: Housing has mortgage tax credits; GE got into commercial aviation because the DOD helped fund it; in healthcare there's Medicare and Medicaid and the NIH, researching and funding new drugs. Only in energy, for some reason, "we've decided that the only regulation will be the price of a barrel of oil. That's crazy!"
- General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt. (source )
It is interesting how many of the people bashing new energy policy (that which includes conservation, efficiency, and renewables) tend to complain little about the subsidies received by the fossil energy industry or any other industry, for that matter. Why is it that Congress rejected the bill which would have eliminated $13 billion in tax breaks to the oil and gas industry? If it is so wrong to subsidize renewables (a crazy thing to say...), why is it perfectly fine to continue subsidizing fossil energy, which currently supples 85% of the world's metered energy needs?
To the fossil energy industry, $13 billion is peanuts. That's three months worth of PROFIT for ExxonMobil. But when it comes time to spend $13 billion on renewables, there's an uproar. Why?
We all use much more energy from renewables, but it is not metered. When you open your curtains to let in the sun, that is free for the taking. The same goes for hanging your clothes out to dry or opening a window in the summer. That's one of the beautiful things about renewables. No corporation (or government) can make us pay for them. They can sell collection devices (such as solar panels), and that is fine. But they longer have control of the electricity/heat flow via monstrous, polluting and grossly inefficient fire-powered grids.
A posting on Peak Energy blog describes what is possibly an interesting emotional/mystical connection between Promethius (from Greek Mythology, who provided fire to the mortals) and the apparent love affair with fossil energy that is displayed by libertarians and many conservatives.
