The alternate energy future is arriving sooner than advertised
Georges Clemenceau, Prime Minister of France at the end of WWI, reportedly said that generals always prepare to fight the last war, especially if they had won it. He might have added that politicians often fight political battles that have already been decided — especially if they are conservatives. This observation brings us to today’s Republicans — and their rear guard action to maintain fossil fuels as the key to energy in the 21st century.
America is blessed with enormous natural wealth. But more importantly, it is a country created by immigrants — who brought with them the fierce desire to succeed in their new world — and a dedication to raising children they expected to grasp the brass ring. Far from all of them achieved their dreams. But enough did to make the country the most vibrant economic powerhouse the planet has ever witnessed — as conservatives love to crow, even though most of them had little to do with it.
America has also been cursed — both by conservatism and the natural economic cycle of history. Clemenceau’s point was that when something works, the conservative mind instinctively embraces risk aversion. As circumstances change, these brittle neurotics cling to familiarity, while courageous strivers and risk-takers open the doors to opportunity and the economic vitality it brings.
Conservative shortsightedness is exacerbated by the nativist belief that whatever America decides to do, the rest of the world will follow. Take alternative energy. Conservative rhetoric makes it clear that these backward-lookers are still convinced fossil fuels — with America being a net energy exporter — ensure a bright future. They could not be more wrong. And we do not have to factor in global warming to make that point — even though climate change has been a powerful impetus for developing this new technology.
America represents as much as 25%, or as little as 12.4%, of the world’s economy — depending on how you count. Regardless, at least 75% of the economic world is making energy decisions that may or may not be the same as the US's. And the evidence says that they are embracing alternate energy quicker than anticipated.
The good news is that so is America. The better news is that American business is ignoring conservative American politicians.
The New York Times reported today:
Across the country, a profound shift is taking place that is nearly invisible to most Americans. The nation that burned coal, oil and gas for more than a century to become the richest economy on the planet, as well as historically the most polluting, is rapidly shifting away from fossil fuels.
A similar energy transition is already well underway in Europe and elsewhere. But the United States is catching up, and globally, change is happening at a pace that is surprising even the experts who track it closely.
The NYT goes on to offer some statistics:
More than $1.7 trillion worldwide is expected to be invested in technologies such as wind, solar power, electric vehicles and batteries globally this year, according to the I.E.A., compared with just over $1 trillion in fossil fuels. That is by far the most ever spent on clean energy in a year.
Those investments are driving explosive growth. China, which already leads the world in the sheer amount of electricity produced by wind and solar power, is expected to double its capacity by 2025, five years ahead of schedule. In Britain, roughly one-third of electricity is generated by wind, solar and hydropower. And in the United States, 23 percent of electricity is expected to come from renewable sources this year, up 10 percentage points from a decade ago.
Notably, about two-thirds of the new investment in clean energy is in Republican-controlled states. This apostasy proves that money can be made and saved with better energy options.
In Tulsa OK, once known as the “Oil Capital of the World,” the local electric utility, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, generates 28% of its power from wind. An Italian company, Enel, is building a $1 billion solar panel factory. Francis Energy, a fast-growing maker of electric vehicle charging stations, is based in Tulsa. Canoo, an electric vehicle start-up, is building a 100,000-square-foot battery factory at a nearby industrial park and a manufacturing plant for its trucks in Oklahoma City.
Houston TX, which is home to more than 500 oil and gas companies, has 130 (and counting) alternate energy companies. The state also has some of the country’s largest wind and solar farms. And the Biden administration has proposed a massive wind farm off the coast of Galveston.
In Arkansas, a planned solar farm will help power a nearby U.S. Steel factory undergoing a $3 billion upgrade.
Of course, vested interests are not taking the good news lying down. Their bought and paid-for poodles in Washington enable them to squeeze more blood out of a polluted stone. As the NYT reports:
Corporations are building new coal mines, oil rigs and gas pipelines. The government continues to award leases for drilling projects on public lands and in federal waters and still subsidizes the industries. After posting record profits last year, leading oil companies are backing away from recent promises to invest more heavily in renewable energy.
In the future, one way or another, the world will no longer use much fossil fuel. Hopefully, it will be because the technological miracle of non-polluting energy was rolled out and embraced in time to head off unsupportable planetary heat increases. And not because the human race committed suicide and left a few remaining survivors to scratch out a subsistence living on a weather-ravaged flooded planet.
How ironic it would be if Bible-thumping conservative Christians clung to an energy policy that produced a new global flood.