![On renewable energy technology, I'll wager on Bill Gates over Elon Musk (Forbes) On renewable energy technology, I'll wager on Bill Gates over Elon Musk (Forbes)](https://www.energiaadebate.com/blog/1308/img/2017013001146041485798364/max.jpg)
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Michael Lynch / Forbes
In 1999, attending a conference on renewable energy technology, I warned that for any given technologies or fuels to succeed in the long run, they needed to be roughly competitive — that is, consumers should want buy them in quantity based on cost and quality. Government support, in the form of subsidies or mandates, were unreliable, I argued, pointing to the losses at Chrysler in the mid-1980s when they assumed that CAFÉ standards would make large cars unmarketable.