The Foreign Policy Survey: Energy

Recognizing that the U.S.’s natural gas and shale oil boom is having a huge effect on geopolitics, Foreign Policy magazine invited over 50 experts on energy to make predictions about where our energy will come from and who will be consuming it 20 years from now.  Kate Gordon, director of the Advanced Energy and Sustainability Program here at the Center, was one of those experts.

“These energy issues aren’t the same ones we were talking about even five years ago,” says Kate.  “The Center is also working on all these new challenges arising from the US energy boom, so I’m glad that Foreign Policy is starting to talk about this.”

Most of the experts, conservative and liberal, agreed that energy demand and CO2 emissions will be significantly higher, and that the U.S. should try to reduce it’s dependence on foreign oil.  When it came to how we should react to these trends, though, there was much more discord.

When asked to fill in the blank, “Cap-and-trade is…”, responses ranged from “A catastrophic failure and a bad idea to begin with,” to “The best instrument to reduce emissions.”  Some described the electric car as “promising,” “exciting,” and “here to stay,” while others called it “overhyped,” “a nice fantasy,” and “far from being green.”

The market may trump these opinions eventually, but these voices are still significant, as they may influence policy and investor decisions.  The Foreign Policy survey highlights the need for this conversation.

Flip through the survey slide show on foreignpolicy.com.