By John Barberi, Guest Contributor
Wilson Clark, a 26-year-old genius from North Carolina, captured the attention of an energy-shocked world when, in 1974, his book Energy for Survival: The Alternative to Extinction was published. The voluminous history of energy and guide to energy resources received critical acclaim in literary circles, from policymakers, futurists, consumer advocates and even a U.S. Supreme Court Justice.
Clark’s work also landed on the desk of a young Jerry Brown, recently elected governor of California. Clark (who was also a co-founder of Earth Day) soon packed his bags and moved to Sacramento to become the energy adviser to the governor. He is credited with being the catalyst for California’s visionary energy policies during Brown’s first two terms as governor, as well as those of President Jimmy Carter in the wake of the Arab oil embargo of 1973-74.
Shortly after writing a second book, Energy, Vulnerability, and War, Clark tragically died in an auto accident in 1984.
As governments, industry, religious leaders, environmentalists, consumer advocates and others once again confront an energy crisis driving the climate crisis, soaring inflation, the vulnerability of global energy choke-points, and highly centralized fossil fuel infrastructure, we can look to the past and the present to chart the course for the stalled energy transition (stalled largely by the corruption and incompetence of the Trump administration).
In California, ironically, the energy debate has recently centered on whether to extend the operating license for the aging Diablo Canyon Nuclear Generating Facility in coastal San Luis Obispo County. Originally scheduled for decommissioning in 2028, Diablo Canyon, which provides 9% of California’s electricity needs, has received preliminary approval to continue operating for another 20 years. An unlikely alliance of Gov. Gavin Newsom (no doubt looking forward to a 2028 presidential primary in New Hampshire, which receives nearly all its electricity from nuclear power), local politicians, Donald Trump, and fossil fuel advocates is working to keep Diablo Canyon open. Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), the troubled utility that owns and operates Diablo Canyon, is moving forward with plans.
The issue that will not go away for PG&E and Diablo, at least for the next 40,000 years, is, of course, that of the production and storage of radioactive waste. In his testimonial to Clark’s Energy for Survival, then U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas wrote: “Those who fail to read Wilson Clark’s Energy for Survival do so at the risk of allowing by inaction the fatal poisoning of this planet by the use of nuclear fission.” Justice Douglas’ words are no less true 50 years later.
To be sure, our high-energy civilization is headed for a reckoning. Oil and coal are problematic. So too is nuclear energy. While Diablo Canyon and other nuclear facilities produce clean energy in terms of air emissions, the issues of cost, reliability, vulnerability, radioactive waste storage, and other environmental drawbacks cannot be ignored. The energy transition cannot wait.
Enter Professor Mark Z. Jacobson at Stanford University.
In the midst of Trump’s fantasies of hosting an Oil Baron’s Ball for his financial contributors in his proposed White House ballroom, his efforts to kill large offshore wind projects on the east and west coasts, and his loathing of clean renewable energy projects generally, Jacobson has given California and the world a roadmap to clean energy reliability and energy security with his book No Miracles Needed: How Today’s Technology Can Save our Climate and Clean Our Air. (Cambridge University Press)
With detail and clarity, Jacobson makes his case that existing “off-the-shelf” technology to produce wind, water and solar energy is available today to confront and conquer our energy challenges.
Efforts to build out and adapt the energy grid to accommodate the sun and the wind are underway and need to be accelerated. A healthy dose of political will and public utility scrutiny are needed.
Jacobson is steadfast in his analysis of what will work and, importantly, what is not needed and wasteful (carbon capture, natural gas, nuclear, coal and others). Numbers do not lie, and Jacobson floods the zone with statistics from around the world, including California, on how wind, water and solar are rapidly dominating the energy mix, and producing clean electricity reliably and at a reasonable cost.
There has been visionary energy leadership in the public and private sectors, the non-profit sector, and in academe. To complete the energy transition, we need to harness the technology, labor and operational excellence of a mature renewable energy community. And we need to do it now.
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach constitute one of the largest carbon footprints in the world. Visionary leadership is needed locally to bring the energy transition to the ports and the communities they impact. It is amazing that the very forces that threaten port infrastructure, wind and waves, could be the solution to the clean energy needs of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
The breakwater protecting the two ports is over 100 years old and shows signs of aging. Fossil fuel-driven climate change will unleash rising seas and more powerful storms that will threaten the integrity of the breakwater. It’s already begun. Instead of trying to kill good energy and maritime jobs, the federal government (Army Corps of Engineers and Department of Energy) should be working with state and local government throughout coastal California to advance port security. In the case of Los Angeles and Long Beach, planning to replace the old breakwater should be a priority, as should the design of wind turbines and wave energy converters into the breakwater itself. This could turn the ports from the largest polluter in the region to the largest producer and user of clean energy. Indeed, perennially broke LA could even make a few bucks selling surplus power to surrounding communities.
The clock is ticking, and Mother Nature does not care about the political fantasies of corrupt and inept politicians. She is traumatized by climate-driven wildfires, droughts, floods, extreme weather and the ravages of war. Unless we act soon and get the energy transition back on track, stop coddling the petrostates, work with other nations, and listen closely to the science, our descendants will think of us as a ship of fools.
The subtitle of Wilson Clark’s Energy for Survival is The Alternative to Extinction. It is not hyperbole. It is a warning.
— A native of San Pedro, John Barbieri is an energy and resources consultant, a past president of the San Pedro Peninsula Chamber of Commerce, and founder of PortWatch, which was instrumental in the closing of the hazardous petroleum coke storage facility at the Port of Los Angeles.