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Contact Jim: jdipeso@rep.org (253) 740-2066 / 2009 Archive / 2008 Archive / 2007 Archive / 2006 Archive / 2005 Archive
A Call for Energy Literacy
November 28, 2008
In a thoughtful interview with the Houston Chronicle shortly after the November 4 election, Chevron CEO David O’Reilly called for more “energy literacy” – a richer public understanding of where energy comes from, where it goes, what it accomplishes for our society, and how the system that transforms and moves energy works.
You don’t have to be a fan of a big oil company to appreciate O’Reilly’s suggestion. Everything we do, everything we buy, anywhere we go is made possible by energy in forms that our distant ancestors would have ascribed to magic.
Without energy as it’s produced, delivered, and used, we would be living in the world of our distant ancestors – reading by candlelight, staying close to home, working alongside draught animals to produce our food, and writing letters with hand-made pens.
Television and blogs would not exist. Perhaps that aspect of living in a pre-industrial energy economy would be a gain for civilization.
In any event, energy literacy will be important the next time that gasoline prices surge — and they will, despite the fall in average prices below $2 per gallon — because then citizens, energy companies, and elected leaders will be able to debate practical solutions from a common framework of understanding.
That common framework would fence out simplistic ideas that confuse the issue and betray no more depth than the bumper stickers that they’re printed on. In a world of energy insecurity and a changing climate, we've had quite enough of those ideas.
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