NEW ORLEANS - The urgent need for political momentum and multi-level cooperation on energy strategies is compelled from all sides, from high-tech industries' exponential growth in energy demand to the fisheries and insurance industries impacted by traditional oil and gas expansion and use.
The All-of-the-Above approach to energy means continuing and even expanding oil and gas production and nuclear energy while also rapidly expanding and funding newer energy sources such as wind, solar, geothermal, hydropower, ocean energy, and bioenergy.
This week President Biden signed two memoranda to ban offshore drilling in over 625 million acres of ocean, but while this prevents future drilling in certain areas on the east and west coasts, the eastern portion of the Gulf of Mexico and some of Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea, this action does not affect the vast areas of ocean where drilling occurs. In addition, the memoranda impact areas of the ocean that were already subject to similar restrictions that President-elect Trump had issued in 2020.
While the topic of alternative and emerging energy sources can be portrayed as a political issue, the fact is that the industries increasing the demand for energy, such as data centers for AI and cloud storage services, don't have a preference for the source of energy as long as it's available in time to reliably meet the demand. For example, Entergy is building three combined-cycle combustion turbines to meet the energy demands for the Meta data center being built in Richland Parish, Louisiana.
It will take decades to shift the global economy away from fossil fuels. In the meantime, companies are investing in carbon capture sequestration and oil and gas companies like BP, Enbridge, and TotalEnergies are investing in alternative energy research. One example close to home is Shell, USA Inc. which is funding the LSU Institute for Innovation in Energy.
The memoranda President Biden signed, which fall under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, will help meet greenhouse reduction and environmental protection targets to some extent, but they are really just a drop in the bucket. Nationally determined contributions to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions targets that were set out in the Paris Agreement currently stand at only 12% of the global tripling pledge according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) which works with governments and industry to create secure and sustainable energy production.
Fossil fuels in the form of coal, oil and gas, account for over 75 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 90 per cent of all carbon dioxide emissions according to the United Nations. When insurance companies make decisions about home insurance premiums or whether to remain in markets such as south Louisiana, these decisions are based on objective risk assessments about the likelihood and impact of factors like flooding and storms. Coastal Louisiana is experiencing some of the fastest rates of land loss in the U.S. due to rising sea levels and subsidence (sinking land) which is just one risk factor insurance companies consider.
Louisiana’s fisheries industries are also impacted by greenhouse gas emissions, rising oceans, and subsidence which result in the loss of wetlands and reduces habitat for fish stocks, shrimp, and crabs. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries found a nearly 50 percent reduction in shrimp landings over the last two decades.
To assist countries in making the transition to renewable forms of energy and in meeting their Paris Agreement pledges, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is holding its fifteenth assembly Jan. 11-13 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Sessions at the Assembly will cover strategies for accelerating the renewable energy transition focusing on energy security, socio-economic development, and financing.
IRENA serves as the principal platform for international cooperation on energy transitions and provides data and analyses on technology, innovation, policy, finance and investment. Their membership comprises 169 countries plus the European Union, including the USA which became a member in 2011.
"Energy security, climate change, and inequalities are variables of the same equation,” said Francesco La Camera, Director-General of IRENA. “Solutions should focus on clean energy demand and building the necessary physical, legal, and institutional infrastructure to support its rapid deployment.”
Louisiana is poised to both become a hub for high-tech data centers which consume vast amounts of energy, as well as a leading hub for energy development and innovation. Such a combination will dramatically boost Louisiana’s economy and help make the state an even more attractive place to live, work, and raise families.
