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Then the Industrial Revolution harnessed mineral sources of energy, mostly fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. Fossil fuels have the advantage of allowing us to tap massive stocks of energy immediately, which justified large investments in its infrastructure, including transporting it in bulk to the growing concentration of users in urban areas. As the cost of energy fell dramatically, our standard of living soared. The benefit to everyday life from more access to cheap energy is enormous; the average American household today commands 186,000 calories of energy per day, the equivalent of having 93 human beings at your service for work, transportation, household chores and recreation.

The price of fossil fuels is falling, notably for oil and gas, thanks to the fracking revolution. This should be propelling economic growth higher. Instead, many jurisdictions in Canada are raising electricity prices (Ontario, most notably) because of the higher cost of switching to renewable energy sources. Soon everyone will see prices rise as a carbon tax is imposed. While this may be defensible as environmental policy, it clearly subtracts from economic growth.

And forget about green energy creating many jobs; renewables are no different than fossil fuels in that they are more capital intensive than labour intensive. More importantly, the primary economic boost from energy is not the jobs supported by its infrastructure, but the proliferation of new goods and services and the saving to users from lower prices for everything from transportation to operating machinery and equipment. Higher energy prices have the opposite effect.