SCIENCE, IF PEOPLE CARE: More Wind and Solar Power Perversely Locks In Fossil Fuel Generation: Skip renewables for zero-carbon electricity and go directly to nuclear.

Many folks concerned about climate change are seeking to mandate the deployment of solar and wind power as replacements for the coal and natural gas currently used to generate most of the world’s electricity. Will this work? No, argues Michael Shellenberger, President of Environmental Progress, over at Forbes. Contrariwise, he explains that the inherent variability of solar and wind will perversely “lock-in” fossil fuels making it harder and more expensive to “save the climate.”

Why? Basically because power generators will have to build and maintain a parallel set of fossil fuel plants to supply energy to make up for shortfalls in renewable energy when the wind falters and the sun goes down. It’s not quite the same thing as having to pay for and build two separate power generation systems, but it’s closer than most advocates for renewable energy would like to acknowledge.

The thing is, environmentalism is a religion, not a policy package.