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Page added on July 4, 2012
No, Natural Gas Is Not America’s Future
In Thomas Friedman’s latest column, he praises Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts because he “took one for the country.” Friedman sees that “America today is poised for a great renewal” if only it can get some “big, centrist, statesmanlike leadership.”
Logically, there would be some renewable (energy) in America’s renewal, right?
Wrong. Here’s Friedman’s vision for America:
Our newfound natural gas bounty can give us long-term access to cheap, cleaner energy and, combined with advances in robotics and software, is already bringing blue-collar manufacturing back to America. Web-enabled cellphones and tablets are creating vast new possibilities to bring high-quality, low-cost education to every community college and public school so people can afford to acquire the skills to learn 21st-century jobs. Cloud computing is giving anyone with a creative spark cheap, powerful tools to start a company with very little money. And dramatically low interest rates mean we can borrow to build new infrastructure — and make money. [emphasis mine]
I’m generally a fan of Thomas Friedman. He’s got an everyman way of writing about big issues, with a passion for practicality, especially when it comes to rebuilding America. But for a man who regularly talks of the opportunity of 21st technology, this is a very 20th century vision.
Here’s an alternative:
The stodgy National Renewable Energy Laboratory says that renewable energy like wind and solar can meet at least 80% of our electricity needs by 2050. (Note: most forecasts of renewable energy generation by “reputable sources” lowball it, by a lot). This isn’t just long-term energy, it’s infinite. There are no refills on natural gas.
Two thirds of American states have the local resources to meet their entire electricity needs with renewable energy like wind, water, and solar. Within a decade, 100 million Americans in the largest metropolitan areas will be able to get cheaper electricity from solar on their rooftop than from their utility.
And what about the economy? Solar and wind create several times the jobs per megawatt of electricity capacity (Data below from Putting Renewables to Work published by UC Berkeley). Local ownership of distributed renewable energy resources can double and triple, respectively, the jobs and economic impact of our energy generation.
Big, centrist, statesmanlike leadership isn’t found in last century’s energy sources. We aren’t going to frack our way to a cleaner, brighter future. We need a bold, 21st century vision for energy.
If President Obama wants to lead on energy, he should declare independence from a fossil fuel past and give Americans a vision for clean energy self-reliance.
6 Comments on "No, Natural Gas Is Not America’s Future"
Kenz300 on Wed, 4th Jul 2012 10:20 pm
Quote — ” The stodgy National Renewable Energy Laboratory says that renewable energy like wind and solar can meet at least 80% of our electricity needs by 2050. (Note: most forecasts of renewable energy generation by “reputable sources” lowball it, by a lot). This isn’t just long-term energy, it’s infinite. There are no refills on natural gas.”
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The transition to safe, clean alternative energy has begun. The cost of oil, coal and nuclear keep rising while the price of wind and solar are dropping.
BillT on Thu, 5th Jul 2012 1:33 am
If you believe that ‘alternatives’ or ‘renewables’ are possible without fossile fuels and a lot of them, read:
http://sunweber.blogspot.com/2011/12/machines-making-machines-making.html
and look at these pictures:
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=mcafee&va=world%27s+largest+mining+machine
and tell me that any machine will be possible using PV electric or wind…
And since coal is still plentiful and relatively cheap, and we still have over 100 years worth that is recoverable, why do you think we will go to renewables?
rollin on Thu, 5th Jul 2012 3:19 am
Friedman speaks like a true addict, addicted to fossil fuel. He invisions a destructive utopia of business as usual and education by cellphone. Strange.
Natural gas is not clean and it has huge direct environmental costs, both in the local environment and the global. The costs of fossil fuel burning is far beyond the dollar price we pay. The damage done by fossil fuel burning is not correctable with dollars.
SOS on Thu, 5th Jul 2012 12:51 pm
Friedman speaks the truth. Our supplies of easily recoverable oil and gas are emmense and affordable. Our supplies of wind and solar are emmense and unaffordable. Let the development of a wind and solar proceed on its own. When they are economically viable they will replace more costly alternatives. Wind and solar are the most expense sources of energy we have. Both difficult to use and produce. Driving up conventional energy costs politically to make wind solar “competitive” is an obvious fools gambit.
Mike999 on Thu, 5th Jul 2012 6:25 pm
Chesapeake energy is losing $10 Billion with a B, a Quarter. These FRACKING wells have a hugh drop off in production. The industry is required to drill double what they expected to drill.
Industries that are losing money cannot be the “future”.
Plantagenet on Thu, 5th Jul 2012 8:33 pm
Natural Gas is cheap. Who cares if it makes Chesapeake Energy goes bankrupt—-whatever company that takes them over will still sell the same natural gas.