If you want the real cost of green energy mandates, skip the politicians and listen to the economist who served former President Barack Obama.

Michael Greenstone, former chief economist of Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, and his University of Chicago team studied Renewable Portfolio Standards, the renewable mandates now covering most of the country. Using a rigorous statistical comparison of states before and after adoption, drawing on government data, they found these policies raised retail electricity prices 11% after seven years and 17% after twelve. And this trend is accelerating.