cancel2 2022
Canceled
Bjorn Lomborg, Copenhagen Business School adjunct professor
The myth that annoys me the most is that America is not leading the way in global warming. Instead, everyone thinks Europe shows the way with subsidized solar panels and wind turbines. All the EU’s wind turbines and solar panels in 2012 saved—as an unrealistically high-end estimate—91 mega-tons of CO2. In the United States, wind turbines and solar panels cut about 78 mega-tons per year. But solar and wind are small potatoes.
The U.S. fracking revolution has made gas three times cheaper, allowing a dramatic switch in electricity production from coal to gas. Gas emits less than half the CO2 per kWh produced. In 2012, fracking reduced U.S. emissions by 300 megatons per year, and it is likely to reduce emissions significantly more toward 2020.
The direct cost of cutting emissions in Europe with solar and wind is about $14 billion per year, compared to $4 billion in the United States. But the indirect effects of higher energy costs and growth-reducing impacts are much larger. The total cost of the EU climate policies are estimated at about $280 billion per year.
Compare this to the fact that the U.S. fracking revolution has made America about $100 billion per year in cheaper gas and provided at least 600,000 new jobs.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/st...-in-the-world-102409_Page3.html#ixzz2rmoAnN2S
The myth that annoys me the most is that America is not leading the way in global warming. Instead, everyone thinks Europe shows the way with subsidized solar panels and wind turbines. All the EU’s wind turbines and solar panels in 2012 saved—as an unrealistically high-end estimate—91 mega-tons of CO2. In the United States, wind turbines and solar panels cut about 78 mega-tons per year. But solar and wind are small potatoes.
The U.S. fracking revolution has made gas three times cheaper, allowing a dramatic switch in electricity production from coal to gas. Gas emits less than half the CO2 per kWh produced. In 2012, fracking reduced U.S. emissions by 300 megatons per year, and it is likely to reduce emissions significantly more toward 2020.
The direct cost of cutting emissions in Europe with solar and wind is about $14 billion per year, compared to $4 billion in the United States. But the indirect effects of higher energy costs and growth-reducing impacts are much larger. The total cost of the EU climate policies are estimated at about $280 billion per year.
Compare this to the fact that the U.S. fracking revolution has made America about $100 billion per year in cheaper gas and provided at least 600,000 new jobs.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/st...-in-the-world-102409_Page3.html#ixzz2rmoAnN2S
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