Why Haven’t Wind Turbines and Solar Panels Taken Over Yet?

To put it simply: fossil fuels are a money-making machine, and our economic system is built around them. Governments around the world pour hundreds of billions of dollars (even up to a trillion) into subsidies for oil, gas, and coal each year.¹ These subsidies, along with decades of infrastructure investments (pipelines, refineries, power plants), make fossil energy cheap to produce and buy. The price we pay at the pump or on our electric bill doesn’t reflect the true cost—not the tax breaks and incentives oil companies get, nor the damage to the environment that isn’t included on the price tag.²

Now, consider the market power fossil fuel companies wield. A handful of giant oil firms and OPEC nations can influence supply (and thus prices) to keep profits high—something renewables don’t enjoy. In 2022, Western oil giants like Exxon, Chevron, Shell, and BP raked in a record $219 billion in combined profits, more than doubling the previous year.³ They funneled over $110 billion back to shareholders through buybacks and dividends—even as consumers struggled with high gas prices. When oil becomes more profitable, companies slow-walk their climate commitments.⁴ The message is clear: as long as oil and gas remain cash cows, the industry isn’t eager to change its ways.

What about renewables and green tech? Yes, they’ve grown—solar panels dot rooftops and wind turbines rise across the plains—but they live in a completely different economic reality. In capitalism, companies invest where they expect the highest return. Wind and solar offer a decent 5–8% return; oil projects often demand 15% or more.⁵ As Exxon’s former CEO Rex Tillerson put it: “We choose not to lose money on purpose.”⁶

Even government support only goes so far. Warren Buffett famously said the only reason to build wind farms is for the tax credits.⁷ When the UK cut wind subsidies in 2018, investment plummeted. Renewables also lower electricity prices, which ironically hurts their own profitability. Electricity is a commodity; no one owns the sun. That’s why free-market economies often require strong policy nudges—subsidies, mandates, tax credits—to sustain renewable energy growth.⁸ In contrast, China’s government can simply order companies to build solar or wind infrastructure, regardless of immediate profitability.⁹

The same problem applies to environmental tech like carbon capture. Technically, we can suck carbon out of the air or catch it at power plants—but it’s expensive and doesn’t make money. Carbon capture typically costs $50–$120 per ton of CO₂.¹⁰ So it only happens when it’s profitable (e.g., to extract more oil from depleted wells) or when subsidized. Over the past decade, the U.S. has awarded just $1 billion in tax credits for carbon capture—tiny in energy terms.¹¹

Recycling, especially plastics, faces the same hurdle: it’s often cheaper to make things from raw materials than to collect and recycle them. Unless there’s money to be made or laws to enforce it, many green solutions remain sidelined.

The big picture? Fossil fuels remain highly profitable because the system is rigged in their favor. Infrastructure, subsidies, market power, and profit expectations create an unlevel playing field. Meanwhile, alternatives fight an uphill battle. Many of us feel betrayed knowing the system prioritizes quarterly earnings over long-term planetary survival. We’re told “technology will save us,” but in reality, it’ll only save us when it makes someone money.

Will We Act Only When It’s Too Late?

There’s a dark theory floating around: society won’t truly treat fossil fuel consumption as urgent until the damage outweighs the benefits—when it’s too late.

We often ask, “How much oil is left?” But climate change isn’t about running out of fuel—it’s about running out of breathable air and liveable conditions. Scientists say to keep warming below 2°C, we must leave 80% of coal, 50% of gas, and 30% of oil untouched.¹² That’s trillions of dollars of fuel we can’t burn.

Yet companies still hunt for more fossil fuels because the profit incentive is stronger than the environmental one. The brutal irony is that we’re likely to destroy our climate long before we exhaust these resources. Capitalism has no built-in incentive for long-term restraint—only short-term profit.

We’ve seen this in our culture: we don’t act until catastrophe hits. We fix bridges after they collapse. We pass new safety laws after a tragedy. With climate change, delay may be deadly. By the time disasters force action—widespread floods, fires, food insecurity—it might be too late to avoid the worst outcomes.

Even today, CO₂ emissions are rising. Summer 2023 was the hottest on record. Billion-dollar weather disasters are becoming routine. Yet oil demand remains near all-time highs. Political leaders are still hesitant to impose serious measures like carbon taxes or drilling bans. Why? Because business-as-usual is profitable.

The real fear is that we won’t pivot until climate chaos itself becomes more expensive than fossil fuels. By then, we may have crossed irreversible thresholds.

I still have hope that technology and policy can outpace catastrophe. Renewable investments are increasing. Energy storage is improving. But we’re in a race against physics. And physics doesn’t care about corporate earnings. Until inaction becomes more expensive than transition, the can will keep getting kicked down the road.

White Hydrogen: Hype, Hope, or Both?

White hydrogen is naturally occurring hydrogen gas found underground. It burns clean—producing only water vapor—and could be a massive source of zero-carbon fuel. Think of it as oil’s cleaner cousin.

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, but on Earth it’s usually trapped in molecules like water. Sometimes, though, geological processes produce free hydrogen gas, which collects in underground pockets. Until recently, this was a scientific curiosity. But now, with the world hungry for clean fuel, it's being taken seriously.

The world’s first known hydrogen well is in Mali, discovered in the 1980s. It still powers a small village today.¹³ In 2023, France announced a major discovery: a 46-million-ton hydrogen reserve in Lorraine.¹⁴ The company hopes to extract it by 2027–2028. The U.S. Geological Survey believes global reserves could reach trillions of tons.¹⁵

Startups like Koloma, backed by Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures, are drilling exploratory wells in Nebraska and Kansas.¹⁶ If these efforts pan out, we could see a new energy boom.

White hydrogen could cost less than $1 per kilogram to produce—far cheaper than green hydrogen made via electrolysis, which costs $6–$12.¹⁷ It may even be naturally replenished by underground chemical reactions, making it “semi-renewable.”¹⁸

But there are caveats. It’s unclear how common or accessible these deposits are. Hydrogen is a tiny molecule—it escapes easily. So we don’t yet know if we can trap and extract it at scale. Also, leaked hydrogen indirectly worsens climate change by affecting methane and ozone levels in the atmosphere.¹⁹

Still, the potential is massive. If proven viable, white hydrogen could complement solar, wind, and batteries as a clean fuel—especially in industrial sectors or long-haul transport where electrification is tough.

Bottom line: white hydrogen is exciting, but still speculative. Watch this space.

The Recycling Reality Check

Americans are trying—we’ve been taught since childhood to rinse and recycle. Surveys say 95% of us recycle, but nearly half don’t know what’s actually recyclable.²⁰ The confusion isn’t our fault. Every city has different rules. In one Arizona county, there are 28 different programs.²¹

Plastic is especially frustrating. The recycling symbol (♻️) doesn’t mean a product is recyclable—it just identifies the type of plastic. Most plastics, especially flexible packaging, greasy containers, and Styrofoam, aren’t recyclable curbside. This leads to wishcycling—tossing non-recyclables in the bin and hoping for the best.²²

But wishcycling backfires. A greasy pizza box can ruin a batch of paper. Plastic bags jam sorting machines. Cities sometimes mark bins as “contaminated” and leave them uncollected.²³

The result? U.S. recycling rates are mediocre. In 2018, we recycled 32% of total waste.²⁴ For plastic, it’s worse: only about 5–6% was recycled in 2021. That’s down from 9% a few years earlier.²⁵ Why? Because China stopped accepting our plastic exports in 2018 due to contamination.²⁶

Was it all a lie? Greenpeace and others say yes—plastic recycling has always been a PR stunt. It’s chemically and economically hard. Plastic degrades each time it’s reused. Virgin plastic (made from oil) is cheaper and cleaner. So most companies opt for new plastic instead of recycled content.²⁷

So what should we do?

• Recycle paper, cardboard, aluminum, and #1/#2 plastics (like bottles).
• Avoid wishcycling—check your city’s rules.
• Rinse items, but don’t obsess—clean enough is fine.
• Reduce and reuse before recycling.

We need systemic change, not just individual effort. Laws like Extended Producer Responsibility can force manufacturers to design recyclable products and manage waste. Deposit systems (like bottle return programs) also help.

Recycling isn’t a scam—it just doesn’t work without clear rules, infrastructure, and accountability. Many of us feel betrayed because we followed the rules, only to find out the system was broken. But rather than give up, we should push for better.

So, Where Does This Leave Us?

Eyes open.

We now see why fossil fuels dominate, why green tech struggles, and why change is so slow. It’s not just science—it’s capitalism. Profit will always lead until policy or crisis forces a different path.

But there’s still hope. Fossil fuels built our world—but they don’t have to burn it down. We can demand smarter policies, support innovation, and vote for leaders who don’t kick the can. We can’t fix the whole system alone, but we can change what we tolerate.

Let’s be pragmatic and idealistic. Let’s talk about these issues, not hide from them. And when someone tells you it’s hopeless, remember: that’s just the betrayal talking.

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Sources

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1. International Energy Agency, Fossil Fuel Subsidies 2022, https://www.iea.org/reports/fossil-fuel-subsidies-2022.↩
2. Congressional Budget Office, Federal Climate Change Funding from 1993 to 2010 (Washington, DC: CBO, 2010).↩
3. BP, Annual Report 2022, https://www.bp.com.↩
4. Financial Times, “Oil Majors Push Back Emissions Targets,” February 2023.↩
5. McKinsey & Company, The Economics of Renewables, 2021.↩
6. Steve Coll, Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power (New York: Penguin Press, 2012), 421.↩
7. Reuters, “Warren Buffett: Wind Energy and Tax Credits,” 2014.↩
8. BloombergNEF, Global Renewable Outlook 2023.↩
9. MIT Technology Review, “China’s Renewable Mandates,” October 2020.↩
10. U.S. Department of Energy, “Carbon Capture Fact Sheet,” https://www.energy.gov.↩
11. Congressional Research Service, “Tax Incentives for Carbon Capture,” 2022.↩
12. Christophe McGlade and Paul Ekins, “The Geographical Distribution of Fossil Fuels Unused When Limiting Global Warming to 2 °C,” Nature 517, no. 7533 (2015): 187–190.↩
13. New York Times, “The Village Powered by Hydrogen,” May 2023.↩
14. Le Monde, “Hydrogène Blanc: Une Découverte Majeure en Lorraine,” July 2023.↩
15. USGS, Geologic Hydrogen Fact Sheet, 2023.↩
16. Koloma Energy, “Hydrogen Exploration in the U.S.,” https://www.koloma.com.↩
17. International Renewable Energy Agency, Green Hydrogen Cost Outlook, 2022.↩
18. Nature Geoscience, “Hydrogen Generation in Serpentinized Rocks,” 2021.↩
19. Ilissa Ocko and Steven Hamburg, “Climate Consequences of Hydrogen Emissions,” Environmental Science & Technology, 2022.↩
20. The Recycling Partnership, 2022 State of Recycling Report, https://recyclingpartnership.org.↩
21. NPR, “Why Recycling Is So Confusing,” 2022.↩
22. Greenpeace USA, Circular Claims Fall Flat, 2022.↩
23. City of Minneapolis Recycling Division, “Contamination Notices and Enforcement,” 2021.↩
24. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: 2018 Fact Sheet, https://www.epa.gov.↩
25. Beyond Plastics, U.S. Plastic Recycling Rate Report, 2022.↩
26. NPR/Frontline, “Plastic Wars,” PBS, 2020.↩
27. Greenpeace USA, The Myth of Plastic Recycling, 2022.↩