A Critical Conversation on Climate Change ... - Green Choices

lessons unlearned 111‘Locking in’ Fossil Fuels in the USThe US is so thoroughly organised, technologicallyand politically, around a highlevel of fossil fuel use that even PresidentGeorge W. Bush has acknowledged an ‘addiction’that needs to be ‘broken.’By triumphing in early political and culturalstruggles, US fossil-dependent technologiesgot first crack at economies ofscale; were able to begin building a baseof skills, research and resources that guaranteedrapid development; managed tointegrate themselves first into transport,production, consumption and other culturalsystems, building up a rich web ofnew habits and lifestyles; starved competingtechnologies of research and resources;helped build and ensure demand; and ultimatelywon adherents in subsidy-providingstate bureaucracies.Petroleum-fuelled internal combustionengines, for instance, were considered theleast promising source of automobile propulsionin 1885. But chance events such asthe closing of horse troughs used to supplysteam vehicles led one manufacturer toshift to petrol engines, providing a massproduction base that drove prices down,improved performance, and locked indominance.At around the same time, alternatingcurrent(AC) electricity technology, whichallowed long-distance transmission and centralisedgeneration close to large fossil-fuelsources, closed out more efficient directcurrenttechnology because it won judicial,political and public relations battles and wasmore attractive to aspiring monopolists.AC’s advantage then snowballed into technologicaland economic hegemony.Through such processes, fossil fuels became‘locked in’ to the US’s transport and electricitygeneration sectors. Together, thesesectors today account for approximatelytwo-thirds of global carbon emissions. 174A set of subsidised structures engineeredfor high fossil fuel use – interstate highwaysystems, automobile industries, re fineries,suburban sprawl, centralised power plants,supermarket-centred food systems and soforth – became inextricable from the livelihoodsof millions of people, while a subsidisedextraction network employing manymore, ranging from military machines tolobbyists to university geology departments,175 emerged to locate, secure and exploitfossil fuel fields around the world. 176It was only as a result of such political andsocial processes, which included far-reachingchanges in both individual and societalgoals, that it became possible to talkabout fossil-fuelled technologies as cheaperor ‘more efficient’ than certain other alternatives.Orthodox economics hides thishistory.In this situation, higher energy prices aremore likely to spur a search for more oiland gas than a search for better sources ofenergy. And even though the search formore fossil fuels is likely to yield smallerand smaller returns, the market still won’tprovide enough incentives to lay thegroundwork for structural change in theenergy sector. On the other hand, if, inresponse to infl ation, interest rates are putup and demand falls, the resulting dropin prices may well only lead to renewedconsumption of fossil fuels.