Subventioner och miljöteknik

Reason skriver om vad som naturligtvis är alldeles uppenbart - att i en värld där teknologiframfarten rusar - gamla energislag revolutioneras, tidigare omöjliga idéer blir möjliga och fullständigt revolutionerande nytänkande idéer kommer på löpande band - så är en institution i stort driven av medelålders nostalgiska betonghäckar inte särskilt väl anpassad att sätta ner foten:

It's widely recognized that the government is inept in directing subsidies to market winners. Consider three quick examples: In the 1970s, the federal government pumped hundreds of millions of dollars to develop thermal solar technologies as an alternative to the photovoltic cell. Three decades later, there is nothing even close to being commercially viable. The government also pumped billions of dollars into developing liquid fuel from coal to cut down on our consumption of Middle Eastern oil—another total bust commercially. More recently, in 2003, George W. Bush pumped $1.3 billion into a "Freedom Car" that would run on hydrogen-powered fuel cells. Four years later, the Freedom Car is not even close to being commercially viable and the enthusiasm for those fuel cells has considerably waned.