Very similar logo yes <| sep |> So , it ' s a complex issue . For example , there are patenting rights . The less work the US puts into it and the more that other countries do , the more likely it is that the US is going to end up using someone else ' s technology and going to have to pay royalties to that foreign patent holder to use the efficient technology that they have . And patent rights are really important , which is why Apple and Samsung spend tens , if not hundreds , of millions of dollars suing each other over them . Furthermore , we often neglect that pollution is not victimless . It has associated costs . It ' s harder to see than , say , the cost of a car crash or a hurricane , but it exists nonetheless and in a lot of ways can be far more destructive . Both an associated cost to clean it up and an associated health cost as long as it ' s not cleaned up . Things like asthma being caused by polluted air , for example , or acid rain due to atmospheric pollution . And these incur a variety of costs with regards to cleanup , health care , lost labourproductivity due to sickness , etc . And these are just the short term effects , we aren ' t talking about the longterm effects . And then there ' s the issue of cost and infrastructure . Do you know how sometimes people will buy a building and then tear it down because starting over from scratch is significantly cheaper than trying jury rig the property to be like what you want ? Same basic idea . By spending money on nonclean energy now , we are just footing an extra bill that is going to come later down the line , and if that new paradigm requires new infrastructure it ' s going to be even worse , because we might have to overhaul existing infrastructure to deal with a completely different thing than what was initially in place . So it can create the ballooning of costs . And then there ' s also the issue of investors not getting to get back a decent RoI , which just makes it even more economically inefficient . And these are just the comparatively shortterm costs . We aren ' t even talking about the long term associated costs that the US will have to face , because the US doesn ' t live in a vacuum and is obviously affected by global issues like climate change . Even ignoring the huge financial costs that the US will suffer due to climate change directly , when the Navy , Army , and CIA have all written reports about how global warming is a geostrategic threat for the US and global stability in general , it ' s hard to justify inaction for some short term gain over an adaption of new technology that will have to take place regardless , even if climate change weren ' t an issue .