Of course, there is the issue of capital investment, which for most renewables is front-loaded. This investment however is no more costly than the capital investment in GOM or Arctic oil drilling, and it would lead to energy at an enhanced LCOE over the long term.

Unfortunately, this whole issue becomes a political/economic jamboree where traditional, vested interests don’t really have any interest in doing anything other than what they have always done — after all, they’ve made a lot of money and pretty much call Global political/economic shots — why change a winning game?

Perhaps the French multinational energy conglomerate Total can be looked at as a new breed of enlightened energy player whebn they bought a controlling interest in SunPower.

We can only hope.