Energy Speech By Energy Secretary Chu

Paul Kedroksy has a couple great posts up today--one of which is the presentation by US Energy Secretary Chu who has impressed me as someone who not only used science to support this policy proposals but also economics.

For example, he has said that a carbon tax is only a useful idea in the context of trade balancing tariffs. Otherwise you are simply exporting jobs to China as well as just shifting the carbon emissions from one part of the planet to the other. Pollution does not stop at the border.

Secretary Chu also proposed that innovation follow a model of mimicking what occurs in nature yet "go beyond nature". i.e. using materials and techniques not available in nature.

One of the biggest frustrations many had with the Bush Administration is that his policy initiatives were not based on science. Yet President Obama has taken the stance against these equalizing tariffs. America doesn't need more policies that cause jobs to be exported, even if on balance the bill creates some jobs elsewhere. The President should listen to his own energy Secretary and not be suckered into bad policy choices by entrenched interests.