|
|
| Fig. 1: Historic logos of some oil companies operating/lobbying in the USA. (Source: Wikimedia Commons) |
Industrialization led to the United States dependance on fossil fuels. This dependance has only increased and become more critical over the years. [1] Exemplifying this is the fact that out of the about 90 × 1018 J of energy produced yearly by the U.S., 72 × 1018 J (or 80%) come from fossil fuels. [1] Moreover, U.S. laws have for the most part only encouraged the extraction and usage of fossil fuels. [2] Even though this reliance on fossil fuels has been the driver of American progress in technology, living standards, and economic development, this critical dependence has also put an enormous burden on the environment, especially in areas where these fuels are extracted and burned. As the planet faces anthropogenic climate change, as well as the depletion and overexploitation of non-renewable natural resources, humanity is called to progress to sustainability. Industrialized countries such as the U.S., must lead the way towards sustainability because they have the greatest power, both politically and economically, to promote and implement change toward sustainability. [3] However, the U.S. as a whole is not a world leader in renewable energy and sustainability yet. [3]
The U.S. has the responsibility of dampening, reducing, and help stoping anthropogenic climate change. The U.S. has the resources to significantly improve and implement renewable energy sources and expand the renewable energy market. [2,4] The U.S. has the capacity to begin and drive the necessary transformations that the world needs to move to sustainable energy consumption and a sustainable society. [2,4]
However, several factors have prevented the U.S. from becoming a world leader in sustainability and green technologies. These factors include the powerful influence of fossil fuel corporations, including those shown in Fig. 1, in the American and international economy, as well as in American politics. [2,3,5] Other very important factors include the American dependance in fossil fuels, as well as lack of major political and economic interest (disregard for externalities) in stopping climate change. [2,3,5] For example, Chevron is one of the most significant players of global renewable energy market out of the top oil and gas companies, but its investment in the renewable energy segment is less than 1 to 2% of its total annual investments. [5] This fact leads me and any well-respected economists and businesspersons to believe that companies such as Chevron do not want to pursue research and development of clean and renewable energy sources; in other words, that they do not see these as their future. The reason for this might not be that fossil fuel companies want to destroy world, but rather that they project that the world at the current trend will continue to use fossil fuels in the foreseeable future, as resources are indeed available. [1,6] Moreover, the proven world's oil reserves in 2017 were 1696.6 thousand million barrels (including Venezuelan oil reserves). [6] In Fig. 2 we see that in 2017 the world's energy consumption was dominated by fossil fuels and that it increased by 2.2%, with natural gas consumption increasing most by 83 MTOE. [6] Given the world's energy demand and the availability of oil, it is understandable, from a for-profit point of view, for oil companies to continue investing in oil alone. In the perfect world, the top gas and oil companies, in coalition with the U.S. government, would undertake large and comprehensive research and development to discover or economize renewable energy technologies that are compatible with the current fuel-industry infrastructure. It is imperative that the world transitions to renewable energy, but as a country the U.S. should start leading the way.
 |
| Fig. 2: World oil consumption in 2017. [6] (Courtesy of BP) |
In history, the U.S. has made poor environmental policy decisions. [2] When beneficial environmental policy has passed, it has never been strong enough nor well enforced. [2] Moreover, the lack of bipartisan agreement in environmental policy has increased the difficulty for the U.S. to move forward in renewable energy development and the fossil fuel independence path. [3] Fossil fuels corporations have the power to influence politicians (i.e. lobbying) to favor policies that maintain and protect a fossil fuel dependent society. [3,5] Moreover, even though climate change is arguably the most serious problem in modern times, politicians may choose not to prioritize environmental policy if they do not regard it as as serious issue. [2] In addition, the lack of scientific, political, and economic knowledge among the general public in regards to renewable energy and climate change has also delayed the transition toward sustainable energy because if people are ignorant or careless about environmental hardships, they will not exert their right to voice their discontent about this issue and force the government to act in favor of the people. [3]
Nuclear energy in the U.S. has not grown much in recent years despite its potential benefits to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions and serve as a major clean energy source while fully transitioning to solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources. [1,7] Other that the well know issue of negative public opinion towards nuclear energy, some factors that have contributed to the stagnation in the expansion of nuclear energy in the U.S. are: the huge capital cost of building a nuclear power plant, the lack of state and federal economic incentives, and the lack of political interest. [1,7]
Even though renewable energy and energy storage are big research fields in the present, they are not as big as they should be in order to progress at an optimal rate. The world ought to move faster toward sustainability and renewable energy dependent societies in order to have a prosperous future, as well as to survive in general. The U.S. must lead the way and become a world leader in renewable energy development, energy storage, and sustainable practices. The U.S. must provide incentives to promote renewable energy development, as well as to positively stimulate the renewable energy market. Different political and economic views, the lack of interest, and the fossil fuel corporations influence have prevented the U.S. from transitioning out of fossil fuel dependence, and into sustainable and green energy grid.
© Jose A. Zamora Zeledon. The author warrants that the work is the author's own and that Stanford University provided no input other than typesetting and referencing guidelines. The author grants permission to copy, distribute and display this work in unaltered form, with attribution to the author, for noncommercial purposes only. All other rights, including commercial rights, are reserved to the author.
[1] B. Smit et al., Introduction to Carbon Capture and Sequestration (Imperial College Press, 2014).
[2] K. Jordan-Korte, Government Promotion of Renewable Energy Technologies: Policy Approaches and Market Development in Germany, the United States, and Japan (Gabler Verlag, 2011).
[3] A. M. Ohler, "Factors Affecting the Rise of Renewable Energy in the U.S.: Concern over Environmental Quality or Rising Unemployment?" Energy J. 36, 97 (2015).
[4] B. Sørensen, Renewable Energy: Its Physics, Engineering, Use, Environmental Impacts, Economy and Planning Aspects, 3rd Ed. (Academic Press, 2004), pp. 1-24, 731-867.
[5] G. Csomós, "Relationship Between Large Oil Companies and the Renewable Energy Sector," Environ. Eng. Manag. J. 13, 2781 (2014).
[6] "BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2018," British Petroleum , June 2018.
[7] K. Menyah et al., "CO2 Emissions, Nuclear Energy, Renewable Energy and Economic Growth in the US," J. Energy Policy 38, 2911 (2010).
.jpg){kind=link}