Seems I can’t listen to a political debate these days without the term “alternative energy” entering the conversation. Even T. Boone Pickens, a well-known American oil man, has sponsored ads demanding that our government implement new standards that decrease dependence on oil and increase the use of alternative energy. Mr. Pickens and others have a point; maybe forms of energy other than oil may be cheaper and cleaner. In fact, with the necessary research such forms of energy would likely be discovered and widely used. But I ask this: Why do we need the government to regulate which forms of energy we use?

Energy should be thought of as a commodity, and if that commodity can be brought about by cheaper, better means than are already in place then those new means will inevitably be utilized in a free market. For example, if the use of ethanol was cheaper, easier, and better than the use of oil then wouldn’t it make sense for you to use more ethanol than gas? You might say that you can’t buy a car that uses alternative energy sources. Don’t automotive companies have an incentive to produce cars that use more efficient forms of energy? Wouldn’t that please their customers and increase sales? Don’t electric companies have an incentive to use the cheapest, easiest, best means of producing energy to provide to their customers? Why should the government have to demand that these electric companies move away from oil and to nuclear energy? If nuclear energy was cheaper and cleaner for the consumers then certainly the electric companies would have an incentive to provide such energy (unfortunately many energy companies are state run or at least the state will limit competition in the sector).

At no point in our history did the United States Government demand that every person creating energy had to use oil to do so. No, oil became so popular because it was cheaper, easier, and cleaner than any other form of energy at the time. The same would be true of any alternative energy sources that come to market that are cheaper, easier, and cleaner than oil.

There is no doubt that any transition away from oil as our main source of energy may be considered to be a slow one given all of the machinery and infrastructure already setup to support oil, but if that alternative energy source is so much better than oil that it should be used in place of oil, then the incentive will inherently be in place for people and businesses to move away from oil and to the new energy source. One of the most beautiful features of the free market is that it naturally replaces old, inefficient methods and products with new more efficient substitutes. There is no reason to believe that anything would be different if energy was left to the free market.

So next time you hear a politician tell you that the government has to do something about the “energy crisis”, you will know that this is just another way that they are trying to take power away from you and play big brother. Hold on to your power and let the market decide which form of energy is best. Governments create big mistakes and minor accomplishments, the market does the opposite.