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Bill Gates: We need global 'energy miracles'

• pasbesoin 17y ago
  We don't need "miracles". We simply need steady investment and development. If you are going to depend upon the private sector for this, then you need a marketplace that has some predictability and consistency, so that investors can make some reasonable predictions (reasonable, not guaranteed) about risk and return. I make the argument in such circumstances that THIS is what effective regulation is about, as much if not more than "fairness" for its own sake and adhering to existing laws. It creates enough stability and security for private investment to function. As some economists have noted, regulation is most effective not in micromanagement but in drawing the boundaries of the "box" within which private investors are free to compete -- on a "level playing field" -- to the best of their ability. One reason that countries with greater energy taxes and/or subsidies are surpassing us in developing renewable energy technologies and marketplaces. The companies operating in those environments have enough predictability to build a working business model. The U.S. has continued to benefit from a legacy of unparalleled innovation. How much longer will that continue in the U.S. without the economic support of a broader marketplace both to fund it and to drive the educational development of future generations? (Pure research rests on top of a lot of supporting social and economic infrastructure. The former is not sustainable without the latter.)