ABSTRACT
There are two major difficulties with attempting to translate clean energy into a developmental state project that were not present in previous efforts. The first is simply an issue of demand, given that markets do not specifically place value on 'clean' energy, but rather are inclined toward the cheapest form. The second problem is the extent of fossil energy's market entrenchment, and the institutional structure of energy production and consumption. Deregulation has been viewed, since neoliberalism's ascendency, as a crucial means by which to liberalize the economy, restore the competiveness of US firms, and remove barriers to accumulation. The distinctive feature of clean energy as a developmental state project is the extent of the environmental regulation required to support it. While a sophisticated developmental state apparatus was consolidating in Washington throughout the 1970s and 1980s, this same time period would also see the emergence of the dual problems of a global energy crisis and the increasing prominence of global warming.
