The future of the global energy sector is caught up in a messy and misleading ideological debate. Depending on which politically informed echo chamber one inevitably finds themself confined to on social media, they are either told that the energy transition is a dangerous myth that will end in economic disaster and permanent rolling blackouts, or that clean energy is going to save the world overnight – as soon as conservatives get out of the way. As usual, the truth lies somewhere in between.
Already, the clean energy sector is struggling with huge delays in permitting, major issues securing land rights, and woefully unprepared and aging power grids that have no hope of supporting total electrification in their current state. While clean energy projects charge ahead with funding from initiatives such as the Inflation Reduction Act, major bottlenecks face those projects just down the road. This supports the notion that doing things well takes time.