What Happened to Our Energy Security?

Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast

Episode 85

What Happened to Our Energy Security

As you have likely heard me say before, sustainability is your best security blanket. But part of being sustainable is managing as many of your personal resources as possible. After all, as long as someone else is in control of your resources, someone else is in control of your life.

It really doesn’t make any of us feel secure when someone else decides when we get electricity and when we don’t. Yet that is what happens when there are rolling blackouts. I don’t think any of us would have ever predicted there would be a shortage of electricity in the United States. Yet that is exactly what is happening.

If you want to hear more then listen to this episode on What Happened to Our Energy Security?

Welcome back everyone to the Adventures in Sustainable Living podcast. This is your host Patrick and this is E 85 which is called What Happened to Our Energy Security.

Once again I would like to remind everyone that if you would like to contact me with questions, comments, or suggestions on podcast content then please email me at

[email protected].

So, let’s get right down to this weeks topic regarding our loss of energy security. First off I am going to tell you about how and why power outages in the U.S are becoming increasingly more frequent. Then I am going to talk about the global energy market, the typical response of the U.S government to any sort of crises that affects that market and why that is not affective. Then I am going to discuss why we have lost our energy security. And lastly I am going to share with you what you can actually do about it.

So let’s get to it.

I am sure that most of us have heard the term “perfect storm”. What that means is an unusual combination of events or circumstances that produce an unusually bad or powerful result. When we speak of this most of us think of some sort of meteorological events. For example, several storms fronts converging at a particular location resulting in the creation of a super storm.

But this term “perfect storm” is also used as a metaphor to describe other events such as economic disasters, wars, crashing of financial markets, etc. But in my opinion, I think it can also be used to describes our present situation. And what I think is that few of us actually realize what is happening because we are so displaced from it. But allow me to give you a few examples of what an incredible world we live in these days.

Who would have ever guessed that a global pandemic would change our lives in less than 3 months?

Who would have guessed that post pandemic we would see skyrocketing inflation?

Who would have ever guessed that a crisis in Ukraine would cause global energy costs to reach historic highs.

Who would have predicted that a combination of prolonged drought, population growth, climate change, and poor planning would compromise the primary water source for 40 million people.

Who would have ever guessed that we would see empty shelves in the super market?

Who would have predicted there would be wide spread shortages of electricity in the United States and that we would actually loose our energy security?

When you consider all of these factors, what I think about is the perfect storm. Now I am not trying to be an alarmist I am truly just pointing out the obvious.

Now you may think that is implausible that there would be a shortage of electricity in the United States. But California is a perfect example with the rolling blackouts that have occurred several years in a row. The reason this happens is that the demand for electricity exceeds the capability or capacity of the power grid. So what the utility service provider does is produce rotating temporary power outages.

In addition to this, there are multiple other reasons for power outages. But that is not the only reason for power outages. These reasons range from planned blackouts, to weather, faulty equipment, traffics accidents, and even animals that climb onto something and cause a short. In 2017 the state of California experienced 438 power outages. In that same year Texas experienced 192 power outages. New York had 165 power outages, Ohio had 158 and Michigan had 155..

But besides these causes, what most people do not realize is that our national power grid in increasingly unreliable and large sustained outages have occurred with increasing frequency over the past 20 years. At least according to one investigation, power outages have doubled in the last 6 years due to hurricanes, wildfires, heat waves, and deep freezes. Between 2015 and 2020, power outages increased by 60%.

And what makes the problem even worse is that the seven regional grid operators in the United States are completely underestimating the growing threat of severe weather caused by climate change.

A perfect example of what is happening due to our aging infrastructure is the recent closure of another nuclear power plant. This one was located in Michigan. In addition to this the Hoover Dam electricity generation is down by 33% due to low water levels. Events such as these result in an increased reliance on the use of natural gas to generate electricity in a time of soaring energy costs. Although renewable energy is the fastest growing energy sector in the United States our decrepit power infrastructure is among the biggest obstacles to expanding clean energy.

Another aspect to this scenario is that recurring grid failure comes at a steep price. In fact, the United States Department of Energy estimates that power outages cost US businesses as much as $150 billion per year. But this does not even address the cost of grid maintenance which is estimated to be $2 trillion over a 20 year period in order to maintain current reliability levels. And the thing of it is, climate change is just getting started. Meanwhile the average citizen sits back seemingly powerless to do anything about it.

So what exactly happened to our energy security? Well, you would think our mighty government would have a plan for this. But think again.

For most of us if we are trying to accomplish a particular task and things just aren’t working out, we come up with a different plan, a different approach, we regroup. Yet our government is still doing the same thing they have always done. Whenever there is a political crisis that disrupts the world energy market resulting in higher oil prices, our government tends to do two things.

The first thing they do is try to get more oil on the market as soon as possible. That invariably means asking Saudi Arabia to produce more oil. And to help maintain good relations the US has provided that country with billions of dollars in weapons to smooth over the production of more oil.

The second thing they do is promote investment in America’s energy independence. Now what this popular political phrase actually means is that we should be producing as much oil and natural gas as we consume.

But in the end, believe it or not, there seems to be some vague recognition that the American economy cannot ever be stable as long as we rely on one single commodity with enormous price volatility, that being oil. This became painfully obvious after the invasion of Ukraine and international sanctions all but eliminated Russian oil from the global energy market.

Yet decades ago, other countries, such as Norway, Sweden, and Iceland, realized that the volatility of the world energy market had a tremendous impact on their economy. Consequently, they made strong investments in their own energy security and they now produce the largest portion of their electricity from renewables.

You would think that Congress would seize this opportunity to find alternatives that reduce our dependence on oil because presently our nation has no credible plan for how to maintain our energy security during a global political crisis.

But what is stunningly unbelievable is that unlike any other previous crises, renewable energy technologies are now mature and could be immediately put in play in order to reduce our dependence on oil. The goal of US energy policy over the past 50 years is now within reach. We no longer have to dream about a time when the U.S. economy is no longer vulnerable to wide fluctuations in oil prices.

Interestingly enough, the reason that Saudi Arabia refused to produce more oil is that the United States has actually surpassed that country and become the largest oil producer in the world. In fact, in 2019, for the first time in 62 years, the US produced more oil than it consumed.

So the bottom line is that our energy security has been eroded by two different things:

The national power grid infrastructure is aging and is becoming unreliable and desperately needs a $2 trillion dollar overhaul. Now what you have to understand is that this would be a problem even if we converted to 100% renewable energy by tomorrow. This problem is a direct reflection of a lack of infrastructure investment.

Despite our rate of oil and gas production, we still import foreign oil. Despite the fact that we are the leading global producer of oil and gas, prices are still determined by the global energy market which is why gas prices continue to soar in the U.S.

So what does energy security really mean on a national scale? Energy security implies energy policies and standby measures that can be implemented in the event of a supply disruption, and at a cost that people would consider reasonable. Which is of course what we are not experiencing at this time. In fact, we are seeing the exact opposite.

That being said, how do we actually produce energy security?

That can be accomplished by doing five things: reduce our overall energy imports, exploit any local resources, increase our energy efficiency and thereby reduce our use of energy, develop alternative energy sources, and diversify our sources of energy. If all of these things are in place, then we are energy secure regardless of what if going on abroad.

So, let’s face the facts here.

Our current situation is a slap in the face and should be a wake up call. On a national level we should be making smart investments to accelerate our transition to a clean energy economy. But instead, our current president is visiting Saudi Arabia and asking for more oil production.

What we are accustomed to in the United States is throwing money and technology at all of our problems. Furthermore we make no effort to change the underlying behavior that got us in this situation in the first place. Right now we are faced with a situation where the use of money and technology simply is not going to work. The government just can’t order private industry to start drilling for more oil. We can’t just increase renewable energy production by 50% tomorrow. It is simply impossible due to supply chain disruption, man power shortages, lack of equipment, and inability to even obtain the needed supplies to actually make it happen. So this problem is not going to go away any time soon.

So what does that mean for the individual? How do we actually produce energy security?

To begin with, I would first take a step back and question what is it that we do to produce any sort of personal security when it comes to the basic necessities needed to live a comfortable lifestyle. Well, in the broad sense we need resources that are available, accessible, affordable, and acceptable.

For example, let’s look at current energy prices, in particular the current price of gasoline. Fuel is available, it is accessible, but it is neither affordable and therefore not acceptable. But we purchase it anyway because it is something we need.

What about going to the supermarket? Food is readily available, accessible, affordable and therefore acceptable. That being said, how do you actually produce some sort of food security in the event of supply chain disruption? If there is general panic and people imagine a food shortage, make a run on the supermarket, you go there to stock up as well and the shelves are empty. Your food security just went out the window.

The same could be said for your employment situation. You have a job that is available, accessible, it makes your life affordable, and is therefore acceptable. But what happens if you loose your job? Despite everything your financial security just went our the window.

So how do you actually produce some sort of personal security? I think this is a valid question because most of us have this underlying belief that we will never do without anything because we live in the land of plenty and if all else fails the government will swoop in and save us all. But honestly, nothing could be further from the truth and our personal security has long since been thrown out the window.

So how do you actually produce some sort of personal security?

I can answer that with just three words: creativity and diversification. At first that may sound a bit obtuse but bear with me for a moment.

If you are investing money, the best way to make that money secure is to minimize your risk. You minimize your risk by being creative and producing a diverse investment portfolio.

If you want some sort of financial security, you do the same sort of thing. You get creative and diversify. As the old saying goes, you never put all your eggs in one basket. This is a strategy that I’ve successfully used for the last 22 years.

I have a small group of hospitals that I work with regularly, a few others that I work with intermittently, and I also engage in some business activity outside of the medical field. What this means is that I have several sources of income. If something happens with one job it makes no difference. If the whole thing collapsing, I have enough financial reserves to hold me over until I find something else. This is my version of employment security.

The same is true for food security. You get creative and diversify. You don’t wait until there is an actual or perceived crisis and rush to the supermarket only to find empty shelves. You have to plan ahead. Plant a garden. Raise some chickens. Purchase small amounts of extra food every time you go to the supermarket. Better yet, buy in bulk and learn how to can your own food. These are things I’ve done for years and we managed to have a nice stockpile of extra food. Every time there is some perceive emergency and people are cleaning out the supermarket shelves, I just go buy more seeds for the garden.

The same is true for energy security. You get creative and diversify instead of waiting for someone else to do it for you. I talked a little bit about this in my last episode on the true cost of sustainable living.

For example, my solar array was installed about 5 years ago. Over all it has been extremely reliable. However, a couple of times during the winter it shuts off due to low voltage. This is because we have much fewer sun hours. Due to that, I have a much smaller back up array that charges a small battery bank. Each of those batteries are small enough to sit on a window seal so that we can connect lights directly to the battery. The refrigerator and freezer are hard wired to the battery bank so they never turn off. If all else fails, I can temporarily use a generator.

Even if you live in the city you can produce the same type of energy security. It is possible to purchase a smaller array and battery bank so that this energy circuit runs very specific dedicated portions of your home. Even if the grid goes down, you will still have basic lighting and refrigeration. Better yet, purchase a high efficiency DC refrigerator and freezer that is hard wired to a battery bank. Then no matter what you will never loose refrigeration.

For the last 75 plus years or so our country has been on this path of constant growth. But in case you have not yet realized this, constant growth is just not sustainable. In fact, one of the biggest problems with constant growth is that the more you have the more you have to take care of. You can easily see this in your own life. The more things you have the more you have to keep track of, the more insurance you have to have, the more repairs and maintenance you have to be responsible for and the more money you have to spend. Sooner or later it becomes a never ending trap. This is why I speak often about how much easier it is to keep a simply life.

Well, the same is true for our country. The more we grow, the more infrastructure we have, and more time and money it takes for maintenance and up keep. We are so busy growing and taking advantage of our abundant resources we forgot that we no longer live in the land of plenty.

Furthermore our government has long neglected the necessary capital investment into our energy infrastructure that it is now failing. In fact, even if we converted to 100% renewable energy tomorrow we would not have sufficient infrastructure to sustain that and make it feasible. Not to mention that our government has no credible plan to maintain our national energy security during a global political crisis. And the war in Ukraine is a perfect example of just how easy it is for one isolated incident to produce a global economic crisis and cause energy cost to soar through the roof.

My solution to the whole problem, be creative, diversify, and go local. We all have the ability to produce our own economy by diversifying our income sources and limiting the financial impact on ourselves when the national economy takes a downturn. We all have the ability to produce our own food security by learning to grow and process our own food, storing extra, and learning home canning. It doesn’t get any more local than going to your back yard to pick something from your garden. Furthermore, we all have the ability to produce our own energy security by taking advantage of solar energy and having back up energy systems. It doesn’t get any more local than solar panels on the roof of your home.

You have all heard me say this before. A big part of being sustainable is taking responsibility for everything you choose to do and everything you choose not to do. The same is true for producing any sort of personal security. You cannot afford to look outward and expect someone else to do it for you. You have to look inward, be creative and diversify. When is comes to being sustainable and safeguarding your own personal security, creativity and ingenuity are going to be your best friend. So don’t wait to see what the world is going to do. Don’t wait to see what the government is going to do. Don’t wait to see what your neighbor is going to do. Take responsibility for yourself.

My personal response to what is going on in the world these days is to increase my food production at home and I am also going to expand my solar array this year. The reason I am doing this is because a sustainable lifestyle is truly your best security blanket.

I want to end this episode with a quote from Ronald Regan. He once said that

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”

It is much the same with sustainability. Our best chance to be sustainable is never more than one generation away from extinction. We cannot pass this down to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”

Now more than ever, sustainability comes down to what kind of future we are leaving the next generation.

This is your host Patrick signing off until next week. Always remember to live sustainably because this is how we build a better future.

Patrick

Episode Transcript