NEW YORK, NY – In a new Manhattan Institute report, senior fellow Mark Mills addresses the popular but problematic idea driving the Green New Deal and similar policy proposals: that America is on the verge of an energy revolution—akin in scale and scope to the tech revolution of Silicon Valley—that will enable 100% replacement of hydrocarbons with green alternatives.

There’s just one problem: an analysis of the constraints imposed by Mother Nature reveals that such a revolution isn’t just unlikely—it’s impossible. Mills leverages scientific data to assert that until fundamentally new science is discovered, the “new energy economy” is, physically speaking, unattainable. Furthermore, as the U.S. continues to pour resources into yesterday’s green alternatives that cannot meet growing energy demands, it is missing the opportunity to invest in the basic research to find truly revolutionary new kinds of energy technologies.

The report relies on the laws of physics to show that a wholesale replacement of hydrocarbons with current green alternatives won’t materialize in the near future.