Ikea and Google are investing heavily in renewables. Should corporations follow the trend towards cheaper solar power?
Only through massive public investment can renewables achieve and then surpass price parity with carbon soon enough to salvage a livable environment. That’s what we thought in 2010 when we published Carbon Pricing, Innovation, and Productivity, a discussion paper in which we advocated for high prices for carbon-based energy through the use of a tax in order to generate cheap green technology.
It appears that a new reality has already emerged. AllianceBernstein’s Michael Parker and Flora Chang released a remarkable report on 4 April, Equal and Opposite if solar wins, who loses? (pdf). The second paragraph has created an enormous stir. "The fact is that solar is now cheap enough that it competes with oil, kerosene, diesel and LNG in developing markets."