The Clean Power Plan and Supporting Coal, Oil, and Natural Gas

The U.S. energy economy is the 2nd largest but most dynamic in the world, a massive complex devouring 6 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe) every day. Our daily energy supply will continue to be based on the very real market factors of affordability, reliability, and availability, not the trite platitude of “we’re Americans, we can do anything.”

In fact, with an unacceptable 94 million working age Americans not in the labor force (56 million of them women) and 48 million stuck in poverty, it’s quite apparent there’s a lot we can’t do. And one of the things we can’t do is displace dispatchable, 24/7 always available energy with non-dispatchable intermittent energy. No matter what interest groups proclaim or what laws get passed, mandates don’t change physics, and wishing something doesn’t make it so.

Out of 34 countries, the U.S. has ranked 17th in science and 25th in mathematics, but perhaps our biggest mental hurdle is understanding energy scale and the enormity of the energy system that drives our ever-expanding $17 trillion economy. This explains why so many of us continue to believe that wind and solar power will displace fossil fuels, when in fact they haven’t because they can’t. (by Jude Clemente, Forbes Magazine)


Read More...