> Cheaper energy would significantly increase energy consumption... The effect of that increased heat production on global warming can't be good... Electric en

> Cheaper energy would significantly increase energy consumption... The effect of that increased heat production on global warming can't be good... Electric energy being generated and turned to heat energy is an insignificant part of the global energy budget. Solar irradiance hits the earth with about 1000W/square meter, or a total of 1.73x10^17 W aka 173 petawatts [1], non-stop. Imagine a grid of electric space heaters, all separated by just the lengths of their cords, covering every wave of the oceans, every row of the cornfields, every inch of Antarctica. That's the effect of the sun. Global energy production averages some 0.018 petawatts. Not quite as big a difference as I would have expected, actually. But the point stands that using less of energy types which have a side-effect of increasing the heating effect of the Sun by a little, even if it means multiplying total energy use by a lot, has a net negative effect on global warming. [1] ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_constant#Solar_irradiance