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12-01-2005
Letter in Response to Clive Crook Commentary
Jamie Wimberly, Letter to the Editor, The Atlantic Monthly
Dear Editors of The Atlantic Monthly:
Like the Energy Policy Act that Clive Crook dissects ("Does Oil Have A Future?"), I found his commentary lacked vision in regard to the market transformation taking place in the energy industry. A narrow focus on commodities such as oil misses the move away from large centralized production and processing to a model based on small scale, network-oriented technologies at or near the customer’s house or business, otherwise known as "distributed energy."
We are in the beginning stages of a technological revolution much like the industrial revolution over a century ago. Building off advances in communication and interconnectivity, technologies such as solar, fuel cells, sensors, batteries and power electronics will have the same impact on how we live and work as autos and light bulbs did when they were first introduced. Why? Because they are more efficient; meaning that by using less to make more, these technologies promise a less polluting, less costly future even while creating more value for customers, e.g., more heat, more comfort, more convenience, etc. People don’t buy gasoline for the commodity, but for what the commodity allows them to do.
For this vision to be fully realized, I disagree with Crook’s assertion that increasing the gas tax is the answer. Far from it, government intervention in pricing (taxes, subsidies and price caps) has caused endless distortions in the market leading to a situation that makes it difficult for customers to evaluate new technologies against old ones.
Energy policy, insofar as their needs to be one, should focus on leveling the playing field for new entrants and technologies into the marketplace.
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