Governor is puzzled

 In just  the past few years Kentucky has suffered from repeated unprecedented flooding and destructive tornadoes. Governor Andy Beshear is mystified:

I wish I could tell you why we keep getting hit here in Kentucky. I wish I could tell you why areas where people may not have much continue to get hit and lose everything. I can’t give you the why, but I know what we do in response to it. And the answer is everything we can. These are our people. Let’s make sure we help them out.

Four climate scientists give him the explanation. 

Let me just add a couple of points, since, unlike many people who like to weigh in on this issue, I actually know what I'm talking about. (I have a doctorate in policy, for which I had to pass qualifying examinations in economics.) Renewable energy is indeed already cheaper than burning fossil fuel. The sun doesn't charge us anything to use its electromagnetic radiation. And as you might expect, the proportion of the U.S. energy supply produced by renewable sources has been increasing. But there are two obstacles to the growth of renewables that require government intervention to overcome. 

1) The need for investment in public goods, specifically the "smart grid" power transmission and distribution system that will allow for uninterrupted delivery of electricity even though much electricity from renewable sources is produced intermittently.

2) Threshold effects. Before people will generally rush out to buy electric vehicles, there need to be charging stations as conveniently available as gas stations are today. But there won't be a lot of them if there aren't a lot of people driving electric vehicles to patronize them.  So giving a boost to development of charging stations will speed the adoption of electric vehicles.

The absolutely urgent, critical need for us to stop burning carbon makes these investments equally urgent. But in the long run, they'll save you money.