I think you're both right. I don't think we'll get much mileage by limiting consumption via legislation, but I do think subsidizing industries like renewables and green research (and phasing out dirty energy subsidies) combines policy and technology to get us there faster (in time?).
Sure, technology can help with any of these problems but it'll take forever as long as governments only pay lip service to wanting to change things.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_generation#Methods...