Educational Program: Global Energy Crisis: What are the Alternatives?
As the world lurches from one energy crisis to the next, brought on by resource scarcity, war, and an ongoing debate on the future of fossil fuels, what alternatives do we really have?
To learn more about this topic, The Association of Foreign Press Correspondents (AFPC-USA) came together for an educational program to hear from Chip Comins, a renewable energy and clean technology expert and serves as Chairman and CEO of the American Renewable Energy Institute (AREI). He is the Founder of AREDAY, an annual thinktank on renewable energy, held in Aspen. Comins is also President and CEO of American Spirit Productions and Managing Director of WEnergy. He focuses and connects climate solutions in a Climate Constellation of implementation, acceleration and replication locally, nationally and globally.
This educational program was held on Thursday, March 2 and was moderated by Thanos Dimadis, who is AFPC-USA’s Executive Director.
The AFPC-USA is solely responsible for the content of this educational program. Below, readers will find a summary of some of the most important takeaways from the presentation.
ON HOW TO ADDRESS THE ONGOING ENERGY CRISIS
Comins says that in his opinion, the current energy crisis is the product of “the collapsing of the biosphere due to the excessive burning of greenhouse gas that's putting pressure on all of our food systems, our water systems, and creating a great climate migration.” He says the current economic system’s “engine” is “the burning of oil, coal, and gas, principally to drive the machinery” to drive the global GDP.
He adds that humans “are not being cognizant of the fact that the result of this type of energy production is putting a lot of stress on the natural world” and that “without acknowledging the effects on, on our food systems and our water systems, we're simply not being honest on a balance sheet.”
ON HOW THE PETROLEUM CRISIS OF THE 1970s COMPARES TO OUR CURRENT ONE
Comins says the difference between then and now is that the global population then was about 4 billion people, roughly half of what it is now. Essentially we’ve “doubled the demand” and created a “situation where we become reliant on foreign oil in the United States, the Middle East, Russia, and South America for our supplies.”
He mentions the Pickens Plan announced 15 years ago by the business magnate Boone Pickens. He notes the plan was predicated on reducing American dependence on imported oil by investing in renewable energy.
Currently, he notes, the price of gas is higher than it was six months ago and that basic supply and demand has created “record profits” for fossil fuel companies. He says these companies—which include Exxon, British Petroleum, and others—are ”not putting that money back into the great energy transformation that needs to be taking place right now at the speed and scale necessary to get us off of being dependent on foreign oil and also reducing the greenhouse gas put into the atmosphere.”
ON WHETHER WE CAN CLAIM TO HAVE AN ENERGY CRISIS IN THE UNITED STATES
Responding to the question of whether we are experiencing an energy crisis in the United States when you consider that accrued oil prices have dropped to below $100 from more than $100 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Comins says we are currently “facing a crisis of conscious consciousness.” By this, he means that humans have to understand that natural resources like gas, agricultural products, and water are finite. He adds that “we're not paying attention to the dictates of the reality of our existence on the planet.”
Capitalism, Comins observes, is faulty because there are limits to economic growth due to there not being “an endless supply of raw materials.” He stresses that shifting to renewable energy sources is paramount. Renewable energy is actually more profitable because of the inefficiencies in our current system that leave us “burning dollars into the atmosphere every single day.”
ON THE “RIGHT” INVESTMENTS NEEDED IN THE ENERGY SECTOR
Wind and solar power are taking off considerably, says Comins, Discussions about regeneration of soils and agriculture as a whole are also needed. We can quickly reduce pollution in the atmosphere by making the “right” investments sector by sector.
He adds that the global shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic showed us “we have that capability to be able to actually reinvigorate the earth's natural systems that go in turn to reinvigorate the Earth's financial systems.” Wall Street and Green Street are “absolutely connected” and as the investment community in major cities worldwide begin to rethink their energy investment strategies, he suggests “they look very strongly and very carefully at what sustains us as opposed to what deteriorates the natural world.”
ON WHAT HE BELIEVES ARE THE BEST ENERGY SOURCES THAT HAVE NOT YET BEEN EXPLORED
Comins says he understands the general apprehension toward nuclear power but that we need to understand that “when we're talking about nuclear energy or hydro energy, those forms of energy production do not produce carbon into the atmosphere.” There have been breakthroughs in nuclear fusion that do not produce waste and could become “one of the great energy sources of the future of the planet.”
He notes that we must work with oil, coal, and gas companies “to make the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy to where we don't use fossil fuels at all.” It must be stressed that the shift will not take away jobs and that employees must be retrained to work in renewable energy sectors. Stronger regulations and political will are needed to make a successful transition.
ON ADDRESSING THE ENERGY CRISIS CAUSED BY THE UKRAINE WAR IN THE SHORT AND MEDIUM TERM
Noting that Europe has done a good job of weaning itself off Russian gas and securing other sources, Comins says humans must “work together in partnership” to roll out renewable energy sources like wind farms, which take time to construct, and to harness solar power. He adds that he has colleagues in the United Kingdom who have worked on a project installing cables at the bottom of the ocean to ship renewable energy—specifically electricity—from North Africa to the U.K., and this is just one of the strategies being worked on “as we speak.”
Implementing the “grand energy transition” and decarbonizing our entire system must happen as soon as possible.
