We’re All in This Together
Wanna Work for Peace, Health, and Security? Work for Clean Energy
By Peter Dugas
It’s been a wild ride for global energy markets. The war in Iran and the closing of the Strait of Hormuz (alternately described as the US blockade of Iranian oil) has spiked global oil prices and the domestic price of gas. The whirlwind of recent events has added stress to a global energy market already made volatile by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, international sanctions against Russian oil and gas, and Ukraine’s recent strategic targeting of Russian energy production infrastructure.
Markets and investors hate nothing more than uncertainty and volatility.
Price hikes create real pain and disruption for consumers and businesses alike. Our war of choice has resulted in a senseless loss of life abroad and for some US service members.
It has also burdened working families across the US and the world who now struggle to pay for increased costs of energy and all that might be dependent on energy – almost every good and service.
That said, recent chaos may present lessons for those working to accelerate the global transition to clean energy and mitigate global climate change.
Less than a year after the Big Beautiful Bill fulfilled the president’s election promise to repeal EV and clean energy incentives, EVs and clean energy are drawing interest from a beleaguered public looking to avoid increasing gas prices caused by our chaotic, on-again, off-again blockade of Iranian energy.
Internationally, whole industries and nations are reconsidering their dependence on fossil fuels and cozying up to global leaders in clean energy technology like China. Alternatively, some regions are turning back to coal energy to protect themselves from volatile oil and gas expenses.
It’s too soon to know if the current energy chaos will be a net benefit or detriment to the efforts to mitigate greenhouse gas pollution. But in the long term, it seems industries and nations are realizing the pathway to energy independence is through investment in safer, cleaner energy from domestic renewable sources.
Even before the recent chaos and the war in Iran, we’ve long known that renewable energy is far cleaner and safer than fossil fuel sources.
The graph below shows how stark the comparison is between fossil fuels and renewable energy over the life cycle of that energy generation. For example, coal energy is responsible for 1,200 times more deaths than the same amount of energy created by solar and over 200 times more greenhouse gas emissions.
If you are moved to work for peace and safety, work for clean energy. Tell your federal lawmakers to accelerate clean energy transition through faster permitting at cclusa.org/write-permitting. Also, make polluters pay for their pollution until their dirty businesses become untenable through cclusa.org/write-cfd.
