The Politics of Energy
Written by Matthew McKean, CEO and co-founder of Frontieras North America (LinkedIn)
In today’s highly charged political climate, America has weaponized the deployment of reliable and affordable energy.
Whether you stand on the “left” or the “right,” the story of energy has dominated headlines, changed policies, redirected billions towards government-funded subsidies, spawned new industries, and become a war cry for both parties.
On the right, the Republican party has embraced the use of coal as a patriotic industry, a stimulator of economies and jobs, and the delivery of reliable energy is intertwined within today’s way of life in the U.S. and abroad.
On the left, Democrats have decried the use of coal as an archaic technology that is causing harm to our environment, contributing to global warming, unsustainable, and in direct conflict with the green energy movement.
The reality is that most Americans live somewhere in the middle when thinking about energy.
Americans, regardless of location, have historically had access to reliable energy. This is illustrated on daily basis in our ability to warm our homes, turn on lights, fill our cars with gas, fly on airplanes, etc.
Unfortunately, for many of us the accessible and affordable energy has made it an afterthought for most Americans.
For instance, most Americans believe that when they hit a light switch, power will be delivered. But what if this wasn’t the case?
America is awakening to a new reality that is making them take notice of energy… or the lack thereof.
Three of the major pillars to this awakening include:
Power Outages: In the United States, our power grid is being tested to its limits. This power grid, when stretched beyond capacity and challenged by natural disasters, has begun to fail under the pressure. This is illustrated with significant outages, devastating fires, and rising energy prices. Power outages aren’t just an inconvenience for businesses and consumers… they’re also life-threatening for Americans in need of critical medical support.
Inflation: With rising energy costs, the cost of goods continues to rise as manufacturers pass the extra cost along to the consumers. Rise in consumer goods will have a negative impact on our daily lives and limit the amount of spend that we have beyond non-essential items.
Energy Poverty: Energy poverty is defined when more than 10% of a household income is used to pay for electricity. This has families deciding between heating their homes and placing food on the table. With the introduction of winter, this is starting to already take hold in many parts of America.
There are many ways to look at energy. Today, most of America’s energy (and that of the world) is delivered using hydrocarbons or coal. Hydrocarbons currently account for the lions share of today’s energy use, and coal is a critical component throughout multiple major industries: the steel industry, the transportation industry, the agricultural industry, etc.
As the US moves towards green energy solutions, it’s causing the coal industry to pull back on developing new processing plants, shutter existing plants, and worst of all - it’s causing the breakdown of innovation within the industry.
This shuttering of coal plants is resulting in more stress being placed upon our power grid as energy has to be transported from longer distances and stored for future use.
Throughout America’s history, the processing of hydrocarbons has played a critical role.
The hydrocarbon industry today is by all accounts a mature industry, providing abundant low-cost energy with high calorific value, as well as the established transportation system that sustains America as a whole.
With mature industries, new paths forward are blazed by the introduction of innovations and the delivery of new technologies. As we look towards the future, it’s hard to envision a world that is not supported by the processing of hydrocarbons. In America, technologic innovations will be introduced that’ll continue to refine the processing of coal, produce higher yields, and positively impact the growth of other industries. This adoption of technological advancements will address the three pillars identified above, including the power grid, inflation, and energy poverty.
We believe there’s room for both green energy and hydrocarbon energy processing to coexist in the future of America. America’s government has the luxury of subsidizing the use and development of green energy solutions, absorbing their failures and allowing the market and technology to mature. The deployment of solar and wind is by all accounts only feasible because of government subsidies.
Countries outside of America don’t have the same luxury of government subsidies, and many countries worldwide overwhelmingly rely on hydrocarbon fuels as a viable energy source. This was punctuated with the recent COP21 meeting that had several countries abstain from endorsing the accords because they understood the importance of hydrocarbons in allowing their country to succeed.
Access to reliable and affordable energy has allowed America to grow as a society, feed a growing population, and innovate across a wide spectrum of industries.
Governments will switch from one party to the next every four or eight years, however it’s important that we don’t cut off our nose to spite our face. We simply cannot afford to abandon the use of hydrocarbons. It’ll decimate our economy and prevent the U.S. to deliver reliable energy until a new source of proven energy is vetted.
We believe that America will optimize its power grid, green energy will find its niche, inflation will rise and fall, and energy will continue to be delivered as a result of technological advancement across the energy industry as a whole.
Frontieras North America, a subsidiary of Frontier Applied Sciences, has spent the last 10 years developing a technology that reimagines the processing of hydrocarbons within a broader energy market. Specifically focused on efficiently processing fossil fuels, Frontieras maximizes the energy output and produced yields of each form including solids, liquids and gas.
Frontieras and its Solid Carbon Fractionation technology are poised to redefine the energy market and provide a way for hydrocarbons to be used as a core component of our society’s energy creation.
Over the next 12 months, we will be making a series of announcements that will illustrate our ability to execute on the company strategy. To learn more, visit us at www.frontieras.com