Why the U.S. Does Not Have a Renewable Energy Policy
7 Pages Posted: 5 Jul 2011 Last revised: 25 Mar 2015
Date Written: July 4, 2011
Abstract
There is a large gap between the percentage of electricity generated from renewable sources in the U.S. and EU. This paper argues the reasons are not just a failure of policy in the U.S. but also matters of deep political structure and culture. Federalism, separation of powers, changing policies with frequent changes of governing political parties, free market ideology, and popular expectations of cheap energy born of large historic supplies of fossil fuels are all discussed. The author then mounts a "half-hearted and partial" defense of the U.S. approach in terms of the maxmin strategy in game theory and portfolio theory in economics.
Keywords: Renewable energy, Comparative energy policy
JEL Classification: Q20, Q40, Q42, Q48
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation