What matters to me today is reliability – when you flip the switch, is there juice to light the dark?
Make no mistake, in the raging energy debate – fossil fuels v. renewables, emissions, datacenters, and tax credits – the great equalizer is and will remain RELIABILITY. Grid operators slave day-by-day, even minute-by-minute over two points: uninterrupted service and cost (i.e., reliability).
In New York, climate-focused regulators are pressing the legislature to amend statutory emission-reduction mandates that cannot be met. They say better to recalibrate realistic goals and strategies than whistle past the climate graveyard. New York’s targets are strikingly similar to California’s.
“Drill, baby, drill!” is about energy independence – ensuring reliability without being captive to a foreign supplier. Consider Europe – while lambasting Putin’s initial invasion of Ukraine, most still were dependent on him for energy and paid mightily for it.
The transition to renewables struggles, I respectfully offer, because the imperative was never tethered to assured reliability. The climate threat is proclaimed “existential” and yet intermittency received a quiet nod acknowledging inescapabilty.
The transition to renewables, I believe, is inevitable and here to stay. It must be – fossil resources are finite. Oil and gas companies know this. While capitalizing on a momentarily favorable political climate, I have no doubt substantial backroom resources are fortifying their place in the future transition.
Even climate crusader Tom Steyer recognized: “The most important lesson I’ve learned is that people are practical, not theoretical.” Whatever your ultimate objective, all roads lead through reliability.
That’s what matters to me today in 250 words or less. What matters to you? I’d really like to know.