Derb,

As you well know, affordable energy for their citizens is the last thing on the minds of the rulers of petrostates. Electricity is even more important than gasoline for the empowerment of the individual. Nigeria’s per capita electricity consumption is just over 100 kWh per person, compared to 13000 in the US. These people just don’t have access to affordable energy yet, despite their rich resources.

On the main point, you are of course right. SUVs used to be favored by a class of environmentalist as a means of getting into the rugged wilds. Another of the themes of my book will be how the absorption of environmentalism into liberalism has led to a movement wide doublethink in a number of areas, as political correctness trumps the environmental goal. Environmentalism, conversely, provides an exploited object for liberal economics to protect (the working man having done very nicely for himself under capitalism, thank you very much).