by Justin Barnes

Created on: July 01, 2007

Most urban legends regarding suppressed or stolen environmental technology have little basis in reality. As much as many of us would like to believe that the technology to build a 200 mile per gallon carburetor is being held by the oil companies, such a technology does not exist. The fact that such beliefs are so widely held is simply an indication of the distrust that many Americans have towards big business and our political leaders. Such distrust is not surprising given the way elections seem to hinge upon a candidate's fund raising ability and the environmental harms perpetrated by major corporations in the past (e.g., Love Canal, PCB dumping in the Great Lakes, acid rain in the Northeast, etc.). Who can blame us for being a little wary of their motivations and concern or lack thereof for our well-being.

Where there is some truth to the tales is in the way our government and business interact. Our government is responsible for the our well-being and in as much, should be expected to support the development of technologies that promote benefits to society as a whole. In the past, this sometimes meant subsidizing the expansion of industries (e.g., fossil fuels, industrial chemicals, etc.) that we now know to contribute to environmental problems. For instance, economists have estimated that past subsidies for the oil industry have amounted to more than $200 billion, with another few billion dollars being added to the total each year. Moreover, their market dominance results in a type of inertia to finding new ways to do the same thing. This is where technological suppression exists. New technologies are locked out of the system because they are caught in a catch-22 of cost and market experience. New technologies have a hard time competing with established technologies because they are often more costly and less reliable (whatever their other merits). To cut costs and improve their reliability, they need real world experience outside of the lab. The problem is this type of real world experience is difficult to get because again, they are initially more costly and less reliable. In an ideal world, this is where government would step in, offering research grants, investment subsidies, and regulations (e.g., for renewable energy) designed to get promising technologies over the initial bump. Trouble is, the established industry in which the new technology might be competing has a vested interest in making sure that their way remains the only way. Thus it can be

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>