Krugman tells us that solar energy has less expensive that the use of coal. Falling prices for solar panels has made this possible. In fact, that is what led to the bankruptcy of a US subsidized solar panel company. He also comes out against fracking. He explains that it would be too expensive if the external costs related to fracking were internalized.
The problems that we have moving to renewable energy are political. The fossil fuel industry owns the Republican party and its propaganda machine. We have a problem in the US is that is similar to those in many third world countries. An oligarchy with political power is heavily invested in keeping things the way that they are. If we let markets work properly, by internalizing costs passed on to society, we would be using more renewable sources of energy.
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