Do you agree that all government tax breaks and other subsidies for conventional fuels (oil, natural gas, coal

Question

), synthetic natural gas and oil, and nuclear power (fission and fusion) should be phased out and replaced with subsidies and tax breaks for improving energy efficiency and developing solar, wind, geothermal, hydrogen, and biomass energy alternatives, system proposed by various energy analysts,

Answer 1

If you don't believe in the power of the free market, then yes we should do exactly that.

If you do believe in the power of the free market, then we should just take away all federal funding and see just how many refineries get built as opposed to bio diesel labs and wind farms. Without federal funding, alternative energy sources would be much more viable on the open market.

Answer 2

It is Hobson's choice the way you put it. I think that a judicious mix of subsidies, incentives and penalties should have to be worked out specifically to fix each context. The first step may be a scale of subsidies for solar, etc., energy alternatives so that the cost to the consumer of energy supplied from those sources should not be greater than, preferably less than, energy supplied from conventional sources. The next step could be incentives and subsidies for increasing use of alternative sources - these should be made available to the consumer than to the producer.