
In July, California Governor Jerry Brown, announced a plan to increase the state's renewable energy to a 12-gigawatt by 2020, by relying on “tens of thousands of little decisions” by residents and business owners. Brown cited the cost of routing large-scale energy farms in remote areas as a reason for focusing on smaller projects. He also cited the delays in previous large-scale desert projects due to litigation over natural resources, native animals, and Native American sites.
However, a recent article from Freakonomics.com points out several concerns with this plan, based on simple cost-benefit analysis:
-Individuals (such as homeowners and small businesses) do not make decisions based on what is “socially optimal”... read more