This week, when President Obama announced his new plan to address climate change largely through new regulations on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, he sang the praises of technological progress, arguing that in the past, regulations spurred innovation that in turn helped the economy (see “Obama Orders EPA to Regulate Power Plants in Wide-Ranging Climate Plan”).
But it’s not clear that regulations alone will prompt enough innovation to solve climate change. “If you’re going to do this regulatory effort, there has to be a parallel effort in the technology innovation process if you’re really going to maximize your ability to reach these goals,” says Henry Lee, director of the Environmental and Natural Resources Program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
To read the original article: Will Obama’s Climate Policy Spur New Energy Technologies? | MIT Technology Review
