Everything from seat belts and condoms to health care and bank bailouts invites riskier behavior, or what economists call “moral hazard.”
Even the most justified and well-meaning policy interventions can have unintended — and undesired — consequences. In the 1960s and 1970s, many environmentalists objected to nuclear power because its promise of cheap, limitless energy ran counter to their own push for energy efficiency and conservation.
The debate continues today. Which climate technologies deserve our support and which are distractions that could lull us into complacency with the false promise of a silver bullet? The list of climate “solutions” is constantly expanding and now includes everything from futuristic fusion technologies to green hydrogen, from heat pumps to induction stoves to better insulation, and — of course — solar and wind.