Why an All of the Above Energy Strategy, Including Oil, Gas and Coal, is Essential

“Why an All of the Above Energy Strategy, Including Oil, Gas and Coal, is Essential”

Return to the main Energy and Climate Summit page HERE.

Aurelia Skipwith Giacometto and Chris Wright discuss sustainability and identify four essential prerequisites for any prosperous energy policy:

• Reliability
• Stability
• Affordability
• Responsibility.

Viewed through these four paradigms, energy policy must consider the entire journey of an energy source, from production and consumption to the construction and decommission of facilities. All energy sources have tradeoffs. With increased pressure to transition energy policy away from fossil fuels, these tradeoffs are the central focus of international debate between nuclear, fossil fuels, wind, solar, hydro, biofuels, and other renewables. Energy enables humans to live more prosperous lives. Balancing energy reliability, stability, affordability, and responsibility has meant the doubling of life expectancy and has been a significant factor in lifting entire nations out of poverty. The Western world faces increased pressure to transition energy policy away from fossil fuels in favor of wind and solar, but, in this debate, are we genuinely considering the four paradigms to promote prosperity? “The human condition, everywhere and always, has been intimately tied with the availability, reliability, and type of energy sources available…. The energy transition isn’t failing because we aren’t trying hard enough. The energy transition is failing so far because it’s very hard.”