Experience should be the mother of decisions.

For years it has been known that renewable sources of energy are not economically viable (solar, wind, bio mass etc). The strength of our economy is the availability of abundant inexpensive energy, renewables just don't fit this scenario. But the extreme environmentalists continue to insist that we move our country towards increased use of renewables. Fortunately for us the extremists have not won this argument. Folks in Europe wish they could say the same. The extremist environmental movement in Europe won the debate and forced governments to set unrealistic goals for increased use of renewables. Well those chickens have come home to roost.

Increased energy costs (due to increased use of renewables) has hurt the economies of Europe. European manufacturers cannot have not been able to remain competitive in the world market place mainly due to increased energy costs. The European Union is now planning to scale back goals for increased use of renewables. 

As I said, experience should be the mother of decisions. Hopefully we can learn from the bad experience of Europe with renewables. Thank God for our shale plays that provide our nation with the abundant inexpensive energy we need to maintain our way of life.

Here's an article about the subject: