Change and Innovation: The Evolving Energy Industry

Abstract

Conventional resource limitations and social and economic and
environmental requirements will probably necessitate the utilization
of new energy resources not now in widespread use, as well as inno-
vative methods of delivery and utilization of those energ y resources.
In the last third of the 20th cen tu ry, and p robably longer than that
in our count ry and in many othe r coun tries arou nd the wo rld, some of
the most costly energy pol icy decisions made were based upon an un-
der-estimation of the size and cost of ou r remaining conventional energ y
res our ces. This led, in our country, to the establishment of the syn th etic
fuels corpo ration in 1980, at that time the cornerstone of this countr y' s
ener gy policy. That resulted in costing our government and our taxpa y-
ers approxima tely $90 billion, and of course, pri vate energy companies
billion s of addi tional do llars and produced virtually no increm ental en-
ergy.
The same un der-estimation of conventional energy resources and
their cos ts in our cou ntry and many other countries led to the prohibi-
tion of the use of natural gas for power generation -b ased upon the
conclus ion we were run ning ou t of n atur al gas an d it needed to be
hu sbanded and ra tioned. Instead, we now kno w we have ab u ndant sup -
plie s of na tural gas in this coun try and around the wo rld