The True Cost of Oil: $65 Trillion a Year?

Quick: What’s the most common criticism of renewable energy?

Right: That it’s not economical. Too expensive compared to cheap oil, coal, natural gas, and nuclear.

And that’s true, if you have a calculator that can only add, and you don’t count a bunch of stuff.


But that’s not the way we do math around here. We like to figure out the real cost of things. It’s the only intelligent way to invest!

Let’s try adding up everything for once, leaving nothing out, with no “externalities.”

Energy and Capital