Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
there are potentially large environmental payof s from active ef orts to
encourage renewable energy innovation as part of a package that pro-
motes zero-carbon energy innovation across the board. To be certain,
given current prices, renewable energy is usually not a cost-ef ective
way to cut U.S. emissions. Deploying more of it can help change this
by creating opportunities for developers to learn how to cut costs.
All of this points to a strategy that embraces the best of the unfold-
ing opportunities in old and new energy. Big changes in the last decade
have greatly expanded the potential to simultaneously pursue gains on
multiple fronts. Ten years ago, when oil prices were low and technol-
ogy less advanced, expanding oil output would have required costly
subsidies, opening large and environmentally sensitive tracts of land
to development, or both. Growing natural gas use would have entailed
high costs and dependence on foreign suppliers had the shale gas boom
not happened. Fuel economy goals of the kind being pursued for cars
and trucks would have appeared ruinously expensive had oil prices and
vehicle technology remained where they were. And if wind and solar
were as rare and expensive today as they were then, many now-at ractive
ef orts to encourage their further development, particularly through
large-scale deployment, would be far less appealing.
Alas, historic gains for so many energy sources have ot en reinforced
people's prior prejudices about energy. If someone believes that even
the smallest gains for their favored technologies are all-important, or
that the smallest gains for sources they oppose are intolerable, they
will never be able to live with a strategy that pushes forward on mul-
tiple fronts. Just as bad, people who are convinced that their favorite
energy sources can solve the nation's problems alone will neglect ef orts
to encourage other sources. If you believe oil production will deliver
energy independence for free, why bother trying to cut oil consump-
tion? If you think renewables can solve the climate problem while driv-
ing an economic renaissance, why make any sacrii ces to help natural
gas thrive?
It is precisely these types of at itudes that ot en drive and polarize
thinking in Washington and around the country. Yet no one energy
source is a panacea for the economic, security, and environmental chal-
lenges the United States faces. (Nor is any source without costs.) At
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