Increased fuel efficiency, however, is not free.... Any truly cost-effective increase in fuel efficiency would already have been made.

—Former Council of Economic Advisers Chairman N. Gregory Mankiw, 2007

N. Gregory Mankiw is the mirror image of Amory Lovins, the protagonist of the preceding chapter. Lovins knows that every energy measure we could possibly need will save more than it costs. Mankiw knows that all such measures will cost more than they save. Mankiw served as George W. Bush’s Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers from 2003 until 2005 and is well respected within the economics profession.

The Mankiw-Lovins bipolarity highlights an important split in energy-policy circles. ...