You could see some of it in the 20s, before the New Deal sunk a lot of renewables with the rural electrification act. Of course, the shape of the problem being

You could see some of it in the 20s, before the New Deal sunk a lot of renewables with the rural electrification act. Of course, the shape of the problem being 'solved' was very different then, but the neglect of emerging/improving technologies in favor of the government favorite is the same.