Defining Energy Independence and Causes of Global Warming

On  Oct. 30th, Brett Carter, the President of Duke Energy – Carolinas, visited UNC Kenan-Flagler for a discussion with MBA candidates around Duke Energy’s role regarding climate change.
Carter was an excellent presenter, and while I disagree with some of his positions, he guided the conversation in an incredibly skilled, productive manner.
Before digging into Duke Energy’s strategies to mitigate climate change, he raised the question, “How do we define energy independence?”  One student proposed that it means the ability for America to generate all of its energy within its own borders.  Another student expanded the definition to mean the freedom to generate energy.  To me, the second definition is a more plausible scenario; however, it sounds more like energy security than energy independence.   With this in mind, perhaps energy independence misses the boat, and we should reframe the discussion around energy security.
Carter also raised the question around climate change, and specifically, humanity’s contribution to climate change.  He polled the group whether or not we thought climate change was part of a natural global heating trend.  No one raised their hands, introducing a little tension into the room.  The awkwardness was eased a bit when one student commented that climate change could be caused in part by humanity and in part by a natural heating trend.  Following this, Carter commented that humanity was most likely contributing to climate change, but it was difficult to decipher exactly how much.
On this final point, I disagree with Carter.  Humans are the primary contributor to climate change, not a natural heating trend.  While we may not know exactly how much, it hurts the world’s ability to curtail global warming when introducing doubt regarding humanity’s impact into the equation.  Just last night, I attended a lecture by a Nobel Prize winning scientist, who depicted the causal relationship between carbon dioxide and climate change with the support of reams of evidence.  Carbon dioxide is the 800 lb greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, and it is clear that humanity is well on track to double, and most likely triple the content of CO2 content in the atmosphere before industrialization.
Duke Energy’s primary driver remains the provision of cheap energy.  And this is exactly what they are supposed to do.  First and foremost, today’s presentation reminded me that changing the world’s  carbon orientation must begin with policy, and that policy must include all countries.
On a related note to this final point:  In a presentation earlier this week, Kristel Dorion of ENERGETIX mentioned a course on systems thinking taught by Drew Jones.  During the course, students are asked to represent different nations and build a protocol for mitigating climate change.  When played out, the scenarios demonstrates that countries categorically underestimate the size and speed of the actions they need to take.  Professor Jones has been recruited by the United Nations to inform international climate policy.  Not only is UNC part of the climate conversation, we are directly impacting it.  Pretty cool stuff.

Joel Thomas

Class of  ‘11