Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Our goal presently is to broaden the discourse on energy futures. If we cannot always provide comprehensive answers in the space available, we hope at least to provoke thought about new questions, with the aim of unsettling some assumptions about energy futures presently held with undue confidence.
The energy turning point is unequivocal. In the years preceding the historic Brexit referendum, and the marked resurgence of nationalist, populist and far-right movements across Europe, the entire continent has faced a quietly brewing energy crisis.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently highlighted a little-discussed benefit of using renewables like wind and solar to produce electricity: Unlike most power sources, they require “almost no water.”
Hopes that global CO2 emissions might be nearing a peak have been dashed by preliminary data showing that output from fossil fuels and industry will grow by around 2.7% in 2018, the largest increase in seven years.
Nature is complex and human behavior is irrational; only the past explains the future. Matthieu Auzanneau’s book Oil, Power, and War: A Dark History, helps us understand the oil industry’s past, which in turn helps us envision the future of not only petroleum, but also the global industrial economy.
The Alberta government has known for more than a decade that its oilsands policies were setting the stage for today’s price crisis. Which makes it hard to take the current government seriously when it tries to blame everyone from environmentalists to other provinces for what is a self-inflicted economic problem.
Six years ago we commented on this same blog that, of all the fuels derived from oil, diesel was the one that would probably see its production decline first.
The achievements of the Hydro Board rank among the most successful and concentrated single instances of energy transitions. As the Scottish Government prepares to convene its commission on a Just Transition — a project to end reliance on fossil fuels in a socially equitable manner — a clear precedent does exist.
In a Scotland straining towards a two-thirds cut in emissions by 2030, the behemoth of Grangemouth represents by far the greatest single obstacle. In addition to the practical questions surrounding its future, it has become totemic for capital, unions, and the Scottish National Party.
For those looking for answers as to how the Scottish economy can move away, as it must, from hydrocarbons, the harbour seems to offer hope for a just transition. The jobs and trades of tomorrow are jumbled up with the older hydrocarbon sector as it gradually reaches the end of its productive lifespan.
With Oil, Power and War, Matthieu Auzanneau has produced what I believe is the new definitive work on oil and its historic significance, supplanting even Daniel Yergin’s renowned The Prize, for reasons I’ll describe below.
In this first of our new series ‘Just Transition, from Fossil Fuels to Environmental Justice’, we look at the history of energy in Fife, and begin to mine the prospects for a more sustainable future to meet our climate crisis.
