December 24, 2009
Energy Tribune
As my family and I hunker down for a few days of relaxation over the holidays, I began thinking about the many things for which I’m thankful. There’s a long list of personal items that fit that description, but an essay that Geoffrey Styles published last month called “Counting Our Energy Blessings” compelled me to compile a very short list of energy-related items that make me thankful. Perhaps your list will be different. Here’s mine.
- I’m thankful that the US emits such huge amounts of carbon dioxide. Yes, I know that’s not a politically correct statement. But the simple truth is that carbon dioxide emissions are closely correlated with energy consumption and energy consumption is almost perfectly correlated with wealth. The US is wealthy because Americans are able to consume huge amounts of hydrocarbons. And those hydrocarbons provide nearly 90% of the primary energy consumed in the US.
- I’m thankful for America’s role as an innovator. Perhaps the biggest energy-related story of 2009 was the realization that the shale gas revolution is real and will result in a major shift in the world’s natural gas market. Shale gas was, as deForest Ralph wrote on this site earlier this year, the “black swan” in the natural gas sector. That black swan means that the US, which just a few years ago was considered a prime destination for foreign LNG, has become, in effect, a natural gas exporter. That point was made succinctly by Ian Cronshaw of the IEA during the World Gas Conference in Buenos Aires in October when he said “The United States is now a virtual liquefied natural gas exporter because all the LNG that was supposed to be going there is now going somewhere else.” The shale gas revolution means the US now has gas resources that should last a century or more.
But why did the shale gas revolution happen here in the US? Perhaps the biggest factor is that the US is anomalous when it comes to the private ownership of mineral rights. Lots of other countries have major shale deposits. Prospectors in the US figured out how to extract natural gas from shale because they had a financial stake in making it happen. But the shale gas revolution is only one facet of America’s leading role as a technology innovator. I’m bullish on the future of the US because – despite its myriad faults and problems – America has a surfeit of risk-takers and entrepreneurs. - I’m thankful that America provides so much of its own energy. Amidst the continuing blather from various political factions on the Right and the Left about the need for “energy independence,” the reality is that the US produces 74% of all the energy it consumes. The US ranks first in the world in the production of electricity from nuclear reactors (ahead of France). It ranks second in coal production (behind China), second in natural gas production (behind Russia), third in oil production (behind Saudi Arabia and Russia), and fourth in hydro production (behind China, Canada, and Brazil). All that production – combined with significant imports of oil – allows the US to provide gargantuan quantities of power to its citizens. And it’s that power availability that has made the American economy into a powerhouse. So the next time you hear one of the many energy posers complaining about the evils of foreign oil, remind yourself that the US remains a leader in every category of energy production.
- I’m thankful for numbers. Over the past year or so, I’ve forced myself to become somewhat proficient with Excel. That has allowed me to crunch a fair amount of energy-related data which has led to some rather surprising findings. For instance, Between 1980 and 2006, US carbon intensity fell by 43.6%. That’s far better than the performance of the EU-15, which managed a reduction of 30.1% over that same time period. The US reduction in carbon intensity over that time nearly matched that of Western European countries that are often held up as models of aggressive national energy policy implementation, namely Denmark and France, which managed to reduce their carbon intensity by 47% and 50.2% respectively.
This kind of data must be included in any discussion of energy use and energy policy. The biggest obstacle facing any serious discussion of energy and energy policy in the US and the rest of the world is scientific illiteracy and innumeracy. For too long, discussions about energy policy have been based on beliefs, not data. We need to move the numbers front and center.
- I’m thankful that I’ve finished all the copy edits on my next book, Power Hungry: The Myths of "Green" Energy, and the Real Fuels of the Future. For the past year or so, I’ve been busting my tail to finish the book, which will be published in April by PublicAffairs. I’m proud of the manuscript, which explains why we’ll be using hydrocarbons for decades to come, why renewable energy sources like wind and solar are not “green,” and why natural gas and nuclear are the fuels of the future. Of course, I’m biased. But Power Hungry contains the best explanation of energy and power that I’ve seen.
That’s my short list. Have a great holiday season. Our posts on Energy Tribune will be less frequent until after January 1.
Original text here: http://www.energytribune.com/articles.cfm?aid=2761
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