The one thing that we’re not short of in the fight against climate change is technology. Time, yes; technology, no. As Harvard physicist Mara Prentiss wrote for the Prospect two years ago, solar, wind, efficiency retrofits, and energy storage enhancements can get us to where we need to be for decarbonization. These technologies have now gotten cheap enough that they won’t require the prohibitive amount of capital investment that was once feared, while the price of fossil fuels, save for a dip during last year’s global lockdown, has continued to accelerate.
What’s missing from that list is the two “green” technologies that have become increasingly talked about as part of the Build Back Better plan: nuclear energy and carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS). In fact, tax credits for nuclear and CCUS are expected to feature prominently in the final draft of the bill, according to Reuters, citing three congressional staffers involved with negotiations.
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