“Civilization begins with order, grows with liberty and dies with chaos.”
Will Durant, American historian
Chaos
Isn’t it crazy how events around the world can hit your wallet overnight? There will be plenty to learn from the war in Iran, but something that has become painfully obvious is this: depending on fossil fuels for energy is risky and costly. We can drill as much as we want, but oil and gas are international affairs. The fragile global energy market has a grip on prices, and we’re all along for the ride.
Wow…there sure has been a bright spotlight on this problem over the past three weeks. Energy costs touch every single part of our lives. The International Energy Agency calls the current situation “the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market.”
What if there was a way to reduce or even eliminate this vulnerability and make us more secure? Well, there is – and it also helps solve climate change at the same time. By transitioning to clean, renewable energy and electric vehicles, we could loosen the stranglehold the global oil and gas market has on all of us and create a system where energy supply and prices are predictable.
A more predictable path
Clean energy is local, abundant, and infinitely renewable. It isn’t dependent on outside forces to set prices or control supply. With renewable energy, once the infrastructure for capturing energy is in place, the source (hello, sunshine) is free. Fossil fuels, on the other hand, require continuous payment for the fuel itself. Think owning vs. renting from a temperamental landlord.
Some countries are already better positioned to withstand the volatility we’re experiencing. Those that have been transitioning more quickly to renewables and electric vehicles are less impacted by the chaos. That could be the U.S. – and every country – down the road. What would it feel like if energy costs were predictable, and if we weren’t worried about prices at the pump because we didn’t need the pump? Imagine a future with that kind of security. It is within our reach if we focus our attention and investments in the right places.
Right now, the cheapest form of energy on the planet is solar. So why aren’t we putting more eggs in that basket? While solar is booming globally, it actually declined in the U.S. last year. Wind is also abundant and relatively inexpensive, yet planned projects have faced delays. And while more costly, nuclear is another clean alternative; projects to reopen closed plants and build new ones are underway, but progress is slow. Is any one of these options a perfect solution? Of course not. But an all-of-the-above approach, including these and other options, offers a cheaper long-term solution and a pragmatic path forward.
I’m hoping one positive outcome of this war is a heightened awareness that there is a better way to power our lives. Renewable energy is “an energy security solution and it’s a cost solution,” says Kingsmill Bond, analyst at Ember. It also happens to be a climate solution. Triple win: cleaner, cheaper, more predictable. Hard to argue with that.
Let’s do something about climate change. Learn about it. Talk about it. Help solve it.