The Alternative Energy Future

© 2013 by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences ROBERT W. FRI, a Fellow of the American Academy since 2010, is a Visiting Scholar and Senior Fellow Emeritus at Resources for the Future, where he previously served as President. He has also served as Director of the National Museum of Natural History and Deputy Administrator of both the Environmental Protection Agency and the Energy Research and Development Administration. He is Chair of the Academy’s Alternative Energy Future project. This issue of Daedalus expands a discussion that began in the journal’s Spring 2012 issue. That earlier volume focused on the persistent stalemate in energy policy and on steps that might nonetheless be feasible to make progress in the relatively short term. This issue takes a longer and larger view. Our discussion in the earlier volume began with the observation that since the time of the 1⁄2rst opec oil embargo, every American president has promised to create a secure, clean, and affordable energy system. Unfortunately, every president has also come up short on his promise. The energy system is somewhat cleaner and considerably more ef1⁄2cient than it was in 1970, but it continues to rely heavily on fossil fuels–namely, oil, coal, and natural gas. The volume concluded that although some viable policies can usefully nudge the system away from fossil fuels, conditions do not now favor dramatic energy-policy initiatives. Developments since last spring af1⁄2rm that stance and indeed seem to be providing a strong push in the opposite direction. In particular, America’s vast reserves of oil and natural gas trapped in geologic shale formations are now accessible at highly competitive prices. Given this situation, it is hard to imagine that the next forty years will be much different than the last forty unless more powerful policy goals than secure, clean, and affordable energy come into play. Actively pursuing the mitigation of global warming that results from the accumulation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases can be that

Administration (probate law · Agency (philosophy · Energy (signal processing · Energy policy · Political science · Politics · Scope (computer science · Sociology · Stalemate · Engineering · Global Energy and Sustainability Research · Law · Public Administration

• The United States and Alternative Energies since 1980

  Open Access•David E Nye•Theory Culture & Society•2014

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