The world is undergoing an energy transition, and the numbers are no longer debatable. Across the planet, solar, wind, geothermal and battery storage now cost less than fossil fuels and deliver true economic stability. No cartel can embargo the sun, and no war can block the wind. With grid-scale battery storage, the energy we capture during the day can now be used any time, day or night. The recent turmoil in the Persian Gulf has only sharpened this contrast. While oil markets reel and convulse, renewable energy just keeps getting cheaper and more reliable.
The current political moment is very revealing. The “energy independence” that fossil fuels promised has been exposed as a lie. Now their advocates are demanding lower taxes, reduced royalties, and rolled-back pollution controls, all in the name of “lowering prices for American consumers.” That is a remarkable admission because the oil industry is now openly confessing that its product can no longer compete on its own merits. It needs subsidies, regulatory relief, and relaxed pollution standards just to stay in the game. We are not seeing a healthy industry competing on a level playing field, but a gasping, worn out business failing and asking us to breathe its exhaust while doing so.
Perhaps a metaphor would make the point better. We wouldn’t allow a restaurant to skip health inspections because its prices were too high. The inspection isn’t what’s making the food expensive. The kitchen is the problem. The era of fossil fuels was amazing, and it powered the world we created. But we simply cannot afford it anymore economically or environmentally. The only honest path forward is to let fossil fuels compete without subsidies against renewable energy and let the free market render its verdict.
Rod Perry, Ogden