November 20, 2007 | By Nathaniel Ward

A cheap and clean energy alternative

Decades of generous government investment in environmentalists’ dubious alternative energy schemes have yielded minimal results. Today, less than three percent of electricity comes from sources like wind or solar.

Yet the left hopes to expand government influence over the energy sector in order to combat global warming. “The result of most of these proposals,” Heritage experts Jack Spencer and Nick Loris warn, “would be less energy, greater dependence on foreign sources of energy, and higher prices.”

Even as it encourages dubious energy policies, Spencer and Loris write, the government continues to impose burdens on a proven way to cheaply generate emissions-free energy: nuclear power. Nuclear is both environmentally-friendly and cheap, they explain, and despite onerous government controls it continues to provide about a fifth of the nation’s electricity.

Not only should Congress avoid throwing taxpayer money at special-interest backed programs, argue Spencer and Loris, they should also reduce the regulatory burden and allow nuclear power to compete freely in the energy marketplace. This could do more to resolve environmentalists’ concerns thnt government heavy-handedness. So instead of trying to “force specific technologies on Americans,” lawmakers “should endorse free-market solutions.”

Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation.