Renewable Energy Costs And FUD

FUD is a term that stands for Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. According to Wikipedia, “FUD is generally a strategic attempt to influence public perception by disseminating negative information designed to undermine the credibility of their beliefs.”

Renewable energy options such as solar power have certainly captured the public’s imagination, with many more people around the world now demanding a clean and sustainable energy future.
Whichever way the world chooses to go, whether with filthy fossil fuel or clean energy from wind, tide, geothermal and sun; it is going to hit the hip pockets of all – but a business as usual approach to energy generation will cost even more.

Most consumers don’t realise that the fossil fuel industry is very heavily subsidised already. People are paying more than what is stated on their utility bill indirectly through income and consumption taxes.

There’s also the issue of peak oil – new oil reserves are becoming harder to find and what is available is becoming more difficult and costly to extract. There’s also the issue increased environmental damage being wrought through these extraction processes; such as in the case of Canada’s tar sands.

Yes, renewable energy will cost more – but even an extra 50 cents a day to source our electricity via clean, renewable means seems a very small price to pay as insurance against even higher costs involved by continuing with our fossil fuel addiction; or even pursuing nuclear power.

Energy Matters