On the benefits of free markets:

He has said a price must be put on carbon "without loopholes", and argued that international regulations and fiscal policies are necessary to curb emissions. "Free market forces aren't going to do this," he said in a lecture earlier this year.

On the dangers of global warming:

Chu has been an outspoken advocate of cleaner energy sources and has often warned of the dangers posed by global warming.

"Climate change of that scale will cause enormous resource wars over water, arable land and massive population displacements," an industry newsletter recently quoted Chu as having said this past summer. "We're not talking about 10,000 people. We're not talking about 10 million people, we're talking about hundreds of millions to billions of people being flooded out, permanently."

Well, good to know he's not an alarmist or extremist or something like that. Billions? Good heavens, that makes Al Gore look moderate.

At least he doesn't hate nuclear power.