LETTER: Oil is no longer ‘black gold,’ wind, sun are energy riches

To Ozaukee Press:

The phrase “energy dominance” is tossed around quite a bit these days, but the true meaning of the phrase is a Rorschach test. If you believe in a certain vision grounded in the glory days of a young America, then you believe energy dominance means fossil fuels— “black gold” spurting up in the American Southwest, unlimited gas for your station wagon on cross-country road trips.

Fossil fuels are a fickle mistress; they are subject to market forces that can change pricing, demand pressures as technology changes, and ultimately are a finite resource that is becoming harder to find and obtain as easily accessible oil reserves are tapped.

I would posit a different form of energy dominance, one based on almost unlimited bounties provided by nature. The sun alone provides more energy than we could ever know what to do with, if we harnessed it properly with solar panels and batteries and solar plus battery storage is already the cheapest form of energy generation we have.  Winds are more intermittent, but if sited properly, turbines can provide massive amounts of energy. The rolling planet beneath your feet provides limitless geothermal energy, and we’re fast learning how to tap into this.

Energy dominance doesn’t have to mean filthy, polluting, finite and geopolitically charged fossil fuels. We can secure our current and future energy needs cheaply, reliably and with minimal harm to our planet with technology we have right now, today.

Nathan Dombeck

Janesville