Planning, policy, strategy, and energy (part III)

In Part I and Part II of this article, I discussed the concepts of planning, policy, and strategy and connected them with the phenomenon of Peak Oil. My goal was and is to promote thinking about what can be called a true “energy strategy.” (As opposed to the “What, me worry?” strategy that presently dominates public policy.)

In outlining my arguments, I borrowed extensively from the political, policy, and strategic ideas of Karl von Clausewitz, set out in his historical study of policy and strategy, On War, published in 1832.

Clausewitz was certainly not writing about oil, in that his book was published 27 years before Col. Edwin Drake inaugurated the Age of Oil at Titusville, Pa. Instead, Clausewitz was reviewing the Napoleonic Wars through the lens of policy and strategy.

But I believe that the ideas Clausewitz developed have much broader scope than just in the martial arena, and particular applicability to the Peak Oil world and what will follow.

Energy Bulletin