Energy Reliability
In 2005, I was sitting at a conference table in Oakland, California with a group of government officials. I was the executive director of a nonprofit that had supported Assembly Bill 32—the landmark California climate law that required greenhouse gas reductions. Our group’s goal was to devise polici
Having spent decades working in the energy industry, I’ve met with hundreds of residents in different cities and towns across the country to talk about energy infrastructure and new builds. Some conversations have been positive and thoughtful, but often people have been wary or hostile.
Utopian energy is an imagined form of energy that’s abundant, reliable, inexpensive, and also clean, renewable, and life-sustaining. But utopian energy is as much a fantasy as a utopian society. Seeking the fount of perfect energy allows us to pretend there aren’t real-world tradeoffs between, say,
Utopian energy fantasies are turning California (CA) into a dystopian nightmare. CA’s energy policies amount to a bold suicide plan worthy of a collective Darwin award.
Europe has an energy crisis. Factories are halting operations in the face of soaring energy prices; families are paying 50% more for heating (or opting to freeze in their homes), and Europe as a whole continues to destabilize its political position by making itself more dependent on Russia for natur
False beliefs about renewable energy are harming the environment. I say this as someone who championed renewable energy for over two decades—first as executive director of a green building non-profit, then as CEO of a consulting firm specializing in clean energy, and most recently as founder of a cl