KI4MVP
formerly LJ4MVP
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2005
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Okay, my question is what exactly are you advocating the government do? Because otherwise, you're in the boat with those of us saying to let the market handle it. So let's go bit by bit here:
1) R&D -- I get that you want the government to spend more money on this. I happen to agree with MalTalm that the most productive research is going to be occurring in the private sector, and that more government expenditures will yield diminishing returns, but at least I get what you want to there.
2) "Product development". What does this actually mean in terms of what you want the government to do, as opposed to the private firms operating in the market developing the products they make?
3) "infrastructure". Again, what exactly are you advocating here? Gas stations were privately built, financed, and owned. Power plants generally were built with private money as well. There's also to issue of large scale tooling, etc. And even on the personal level, installing solar panels, geothermal, or whatever costs a lot of up front money. So exactly what do you propose the government do about that?
4) Standards...again, are you talking about a government mandate here, or what?
I don't have specifics because Step 1 is to get experts across industries together and create a comprehensive framework of what needs to be done.
I do have some pieces and examples, though.
A clear example of how government intervention can help while simultaneously leveraging capitalism is the development of hybrid cars. Government tax credits helped on the purchase of the initial cars helped bootstrap the industry because it helped guarantee the companies who spent the R&D money needed to develop the cars would have a viable market for the finished product.
Hybrid cars effectively are making the gasoline more efficient by reclaiming energy that was being wasted. Developing hybrid cars themselves has helped move forward the technology for cars that operate on electricity to the point that manufactures are eliminating the gas engine all together.
Yes, the gas station required for powered cars was privately built. But it has evolved over a century. We now have a chicken and egg issue adopting alternatives like electric and hydrogen fuel cell based cars where we need charging stations or hydrogen pumps.
This is a place where the government could step in with incentives to help get the initial wave installed so there is enough infrastructure to bootstrap the adoption of these alternative technologies. People are going to be significantly more likely to buy an electric car for the daily commute if they know they can also use it when they travel. We could shave years off of the adoption time if we make that issue go away.