Why energy policy has failed

This year's Godkin lecture by John Deutch is worth watching. Deutch was US Undersecretary for Energy in the 1970s, so he has some interesting long term perspectives. He reminds us for example of Carter's target for 20% of energy to be generated from renewables by the year 2000. We continue to set similar targets as if this was a new idea. As Deutch says: "Aspirational goals are rarely accompanied by serious analysis that indicates how the goals will be credibly achieved."