Every worthy pursuit in life requires a tradeoff or sacrifice for the greater good. The energy transition is no exception. As the saying goes, “You can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs,” and it holds true for the energy transition.
This idea was recently highlighted when I posted a tweet criticizing an environmentalist for blocking a nearly complete transmission line that would connect over 160 renewable projects to the Midwest grid. The tweet went viral, with people weighing in on both sides of the issue.
In this example, and in most of them, I land on the side of progress. While we should take every step possible to minimize environmental impacts, we must also build the infrastructure needed to power the world cleanly. Over the long run, if we don’t make clean energy more accessible, the world will become more hostile to animals regardless of location.
This transmission line debate is just one example of the type of give-and-take we’ll encounter during the energy transition. As we move forward, we should prepare for ongoing discussions about balancing the need for infrastructure development, environmental protection, and national security interests.
Another critical aspect of the energy transition is the fortification of a new supply chain centered around critical minerals essential for solar, storage, and EVs. These minerals and the skills needed to refine them reside mainly in China.
To reduce our dependency on this lukewarm relationship, we face the decision to kickstart mineral exploration in the US and other parts of the world. While mining is undoubtedly pollutive and will trigger debates about environmental impacts, I believe that responsible progress is necessary to reduce our reliance on China and source materials that will help reduce emissions in the long term.
These same national security interests are the main argument for keeping the natural gas industry strong until we can replicate the energy capacity they provide.
As a long-term believer in a solution that combines renewables and storage, I recognize that we use the phrase “energy transition” for a reason. Natural gas, the cleanest source of non-intermittent power generation (other than nuclear) currently accessible, should be used to our advantage as we navigate this transition.
We must be prepared for tough choices and compromises as we navigate the transition. The debates surrounding these issues are already polarizing and contentious, with little room for a middle ground. Even though the world has given up on nuance, we should continue to pursue it when it comes to these tradeoffs because we’ll be making many of them in the name of progress.
Kevin Stevens 
2 responses to “Tough Tradeoffs and the Energy Transition”
[…] Airlines used AI to save over 41,000 minutes of flying time and 500 million gallons of fuel. I’ve mentioned that I almost always support technological progress, so my tweet focused on those positives in light of the concerns surrounding energy demand growth […]
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[…] mentioned that tradeoffs would continue to dominate the energy transition discussion for the foreseeable future. We saw another example of those tradeoffs when the Biden Administration […]
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