Losing respect for Rand Paul

[The Grand Nudger]

There are a surprising number of business opportunities that are more sustainable and less expensive than how things are conventionally done. It makes sense - there's nothing inherently inexpensive about waste. Like, having windows that let out heat is not only bad for the environment, but it's a waste of money.

For the consumer..yes, but not the producer.  All other things being equal...there are better margins and a larger market for less efficient windows  That's the problem in a nutshell.

Same thing with renewable energy in 2018 - huge profits to be made there.

-and yet...even limiting oneself to just the sustainable alternatives..the cheaper and comparatively less sustainable products are more profitable.

So sustainability is often very efficient, it's just a different paradigm.

Right, it's getting the consumer to pay more for increased environmental efficiency to offset your capital inefficient product. Think of it this way..no matter what you make, a conservation paradigm will always have the trouble of trying to play catchup to the margins of an exploitative one. Principles incur costs, someone has to pay them, but nobody wants to be that guy.

The free market won;t help you with this, it's powerfully aligned against it even in the absence of entrenched interests and their skullfuckery. Thus, the value of government regulation, and perhaps also education, as a tertiary mover. If you started in this a decade ago, the situation would have been even worse.