Yet a funny thing happened on the way to the climate apocalypse. Namely, the financial apocalypse.
The U.S., Russia, Japan, Canada and the EU have all but confirmed they won't be signing on to a new Kyoto. The Chinese and Indians won't make a move unless the West does. The notion that rich (or formerly rich) countries are going to ship $100 billion every year to the Micronesias of the world is risible, especially after they've spent it all on Greece.
Cap and trade is a dead letter in the U.S. Even Europe is having second thoughts about carbon-reduction targets that are decimating the continent's heavy industries and cost an estimated $67 billion a year. "Green" technologies have all proved expensive, environmentally hazardous and wildly unpopular duds.
More at
The Great Global Warming Fizzle
Breakfastburrito: I wouldn't trust that graph you posted any further than I could kick it. It's one thing in theory from some guys in a laboratory setting, but it doesn't hold up in application. Wind energy is one of the very worst examples of utilising renewable energies. The evaluation you posted makes no allowance for the need for backup availability and the reduced efficiency of those backup supplies because the demand/supply is constantly fluctuating. As an example, Texas is installing hundreds of wind turbines in West Texas. Trouble is the infrastructure isn't there yet to bring all the power back east. Cost is US$1M per mile just for the infrastructure. That doesn't include the cleared swath through the countryside. Nor does it include the direct loss of wildlife as the rotors decimate the local bat populations and migratory birds. The farmers in the area though are making out like Rockefellers. They're getting paid a fortune for rent and some are getting extra income from natural gas drilling as well. The land doesn't support a great deal in terms of farming.
I'm sure there are exceptions, but every person I have spoken with who has wind turbines supplementing home energy and actively tracks the power output, is unimpressed with the cost/benefit.