On Aug. 9, U.S. President Joe Biden helped bolster the United States’ technological lead over China by signing the CHIPS Act. Despite the hype, though, the history shows that governments’ best-laid plans to develop technology often falter amid bureaucracy, inefficiency and an over-reliance on state control.
As part of an effort to build out a domestic supply chain for renewable technologies, like electric car vehicles, U.S. President Joe Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to speed up domestic production of lithium and other critical materials. But the push to expand mining in the U.S. faces strong headwinds.
The great environmental benefit of electric vehicles, no matter where they are produced or driven, is that they generate zero tailpipe emissions. That’s a huge plus, given that transportation accounts for 14 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and about 8 percent in China. But the environmental news isn’t all good.
