Renewable energy is more exciting than cap-and-trade!

Renewable energy is more exciting than cap-and-trade! (Adam Browning via Grist)I’ve long thought that the message framing around renewable energy is much

more appealing (Let’s make clean energy cheaper! Build the industries of

the future! Cool technology and jobs for everyone! It’ll be like the dotcom

boom all over again! But without the dumb names!) than that of carbon

cap-and-trade (Let’s put a price on carbon! Make fossil fuels more

expensive!).And it turns out that most Americans agree—at least, according to a new

poll by Burson-Marsteller.When asked their preference for addressing energy needs, a dominant

plurality identified increasing use of renewable energy (34%), with only 9%

preferring the cheapest energy sources.The best way to acheive this result? A whopping 41% of the general

population (and 52% of ‘green elites) identified renewable requirements for

utilities (i.e. RPS), versus only 22% (and 24% of ‘green elites’) who think

that ‘putting a price on carbon’ is the way to go.Cost is the main barrier, according to the poll. Americans are willing to

pay $18 more a year for clean energy, but think it will cost $62.Which is why it is so important to make the case that inaction (and new

coal plants) are not cheap…and that renewables are. Even the Wall Street

Journal says that wind makes Texas electricity cheaper, and if they say it,

it must be true.For the very latest renewable energy jobs from across the US and globally

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