Decentralized Energy

Energy is a purveyor of sovereignty and wealth.

While global elites continue their effort toward centralization, energy policy remains the center of international debate. Multinational companies and their largest investors claim that equity and diversity are the priority of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Ironically, globalists wish to collapse one energy empire, and introduce another. 

Summary Up-Front

The problems with centralized control of energy markets are well-known:

- Economic and political corruption

- Monopolization and affordability

- Loss of independence for nations and local communities

- Gross disparities in wealth

- Considerable inefficiency and loss of power over long-haul transmission 

- Risks of power outages that affect large numbers of people

The solution is to decentralize and diversify our energy infrastructure to achieve:

- Distributed access to wealth from local energy generation

- Flexibility and localized control via a variety of fuel sources

- Supply chains and raw materials for generation equipment decoupled from a few hands

- Ready access to energy for more communities

- Fair competition between technologies

- Sovereignty and independence of nations and local communities preserved through self-sufficiency

Localized wind/solar, nuclear, hydrogen, natural gas, oil, and trash/plastic waste to power are all practical sources of localized energy generation.  

If equity and diversity are genuinely our priority…

Then surely we recognize that centralizing energy production and limiting options of fuel sources will create the opposite; more inequality. If we seek to model Nature, energy systems should be diverse, decentralized, and distributed.

The changing global hegemony of energy 

Over the past eighteen months, the world stage has shifted so dramatically that its’ orchestration could easily be mistaken as a coordinated effort of global economic and political interests. During this time, the handlers of President Joe Biden haphazardly withdrew U.S. troops from Afghanistan, leaving eighty (80) billion dollars of advanced weaponry for the Taliban, who, in a successful coup, have regained control of the country and all its resources.

Since then, China’s imports of Saudi Arabian oil have increased significantly, and China has recently negotiated a deal with the Taliban to extract oil from Afghanistan. At the same time, Saudi Arabia is reportedly buying cheap oil from Russia, which is undoubtedly a mechanism to finance the war in Ukraine. And the Saudi government is now reportedly conducting oil sales in Chinese Yuan.  

This move formally ends the nearly fifty (50) year agreement between Saudi Arabia and the United States that oil trades exclusively in U.S. Dollars.  

The unfair consequences of the hegemony of the U.S. Dollar and its relationship to oil are evident. I am not a proponent of any country or group of people wielding undue control over another. The petrodollar has been the justification for excessive United States debt levels and the rule of global energy markets by a handful of rich oil nations, global banks, and Big Oil for over half a century. Given the dollar is no longer the sole denomination of global oil transactions by Saudi Arabia and OPEC, combined with perverse, intentional government borrowing schemes to fund globalist energy projects, citizens of the United States should anticipate a hard landing in the near-term, likely in the form of a major economic depression. We cannot print (borrow) unlimited amounts of money and play international accounting games as the relevance of our currency is diluting in the world theatre.  

It’s almost as if globalists use countries like pawns to achieve their aims.  While the U.S. has been the gorilla of oil-based energy, it appears global special interests have passed the baton to China, which controls the overwhelming majority of raw materials and generation equipment for solar and, increasingly, wind power. The World Economic Forum, and the global companies it represents, seem to have a close-knit relationship with China and an affinity for communism and authoritarian surveillance states, which closely align with the principles of centralization and monopolization.  

How has the collapse of the single most critical relationship that has fueled American wealth and the global economy been largely ignored by mainstream media? Is it not interesting that China’s surveillance and social credit system appear to be the new global model for all countries? Much irony unveils as neo-political voices in the United States, who are unconsciously (or consciously) enabling the global energy agenda, obsess over hate speech and inequality. Do our ethics permit consenting to divest global energy stewardship to an iron-fisted communist government committing trade and currency wars against America and genocide on its’ own citizens?  

We may seriously question the greenwashed narrative of global elites promoting equity and public-private collusion, who support the transition of global energy production to what the media frames as an enemy of America. The citizens of China are not our enemy, but the philosophy and practices of China’s government are increasingly similar to the actions of our Federal government and the global banks and corporations who have corrupted it.  

With challenges come opportunity.

While the world stage appears to be fabricated and manipulated by globalists seeking to shift global energy dominance from the U.S. to its communist nemesis, an opportunity is emerging. If we value equity and diversity, that also must occur at the economic level, which begins with localized access and control of energy production. As Michael Shellenberger and Alex Epstein both articulate, concentrating our energy infrastructure exclusively on inefficient technologies, such as wind and solar, is unwise. While these technologies should play a role in our future, they should not be the only forms of energy reliance. 

More importantly, if equity is a core principle for globalists, we should develop and promote a wide variety of energy technologies that accommodate the local availability of fuel sources. Centralization is a strategy of control. Diversified fuel sources and localization create local independence and sovereignty and are inherently antithetical to central control.  

While I agree with diversification into renewables such as wind and solar, it is prudent to develop a much broader range of power generation options, including the conversion of plastic waste and other on-the-shelf technologies to meet the needs of a much larger segment of the global population. This will grossly reduce energy supply risks, mitigate and balance inflationary pressures through fair competition, and provide more equitable access to wealth and economic production for all nations.  

If we want the citizens of Africa and Malaysia to have access to economic wealth, then we must develop a variety of energy production solutions that allow for the consumption of local fuel sources. Depending on debt-laden taxpayers in developed nations to finance or subsidize energy infrastructure for less developed countries is not equitable access to energy; it is a tactic of socialism. 

Decentralized and localized energy solves many problems of globalization.

Decentralized energy means decentralizing control and wealth at the scale of local communities.

The following is a short list of energy production options that could move us away from centralization to localization:

- Natural Gas to power - small local turbines for power production at the neighborhood and community level 

- Plastic waste converted to power - this can help resolve the plastic waste problem and allow countries with plastic refuse to fuel economic development

- Nuclear - contrary to propaganda, Nuclear is one of the most efficient and low-waste methods of energy production. Some estimates claim that waste from all prior nuclear energy production in the United States since 1950 would fit on one football field stacked 10 yards high.  

- Hydrogen - Water is a relatively abundant resource; extracting hydrogen from water is a proven fuel source that provides power at many scales for various uses, from residential and commercial power to equipment and vehicles.

- Continued use of oil - Alex Epstein agrees our planet is warming while outlining a compelling argument against the current CO2 emission story, which fails numerous tests of authenticity, including, if not especially, the unlikely accuracy of the measurement of atmospheric CO2 emissions. Oil should continue to play a role in the future of energy. 

Localism will balance Globalism.

We must decentralize and diversify every aspect of human society, including energy, agriculture, healthcare, banking, governance, and education. Regarding energy, this means developing a wide variety of technologies that accommodate a range of locally available fuel sources. This will provide more fair distribution and access to power, enabling a much larger proportion of human civilization to flourish. This can be done with proper pollution standards, eliminating dirty coal extraction/production, reducing oil/gas emissions with better filtration technology, and increasing the use of clean energy. Decentralized energy will yield efficiency, redundancy, and a diversified range of fuel inputs to accommodate local resources, which should be determined, controlled, and consumed locally.  

The end goal of sound energy policy is to foster independence and sovereignty, liberty at the level of the family and individual, community economic development, and equity through ownership by as many citizens as possible. This is possible in a localized world.  

References:

1) Blackrock/Vanguard Video -

2) Fourth Industrial Revolution -

3) China new Energy Czar - https://futurism.com/china-new-world-leader-renewable-energy

4) Taliban Coup - https://www.usip.org/publications/2022/08/year-after-taliban-takeover-whats-next-us-afghanistan

5) China oil sales from Saudi Increase / Decrease to US - https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/15/saudi-arabia-dramatically-changing-its-oil-exports-to-china-and-the-us.html

6) China buying oil from Taliban - https://www.usip.org/publications/2022/08/year-after-taliban-takeover-whats-next-us-afghanistan

7) Saudi Arabia buying cheap oil from Russia - https://thehedge.io/articles/saudi-arabia-is-buying-russian-oil-on-the-cheap

8) Saudi Arabia buying oil Russia (2nd Reference) - https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/russia-saudi-arabia-oil-fuel-energy-sanctions-inflation-ukraine-2022-7?op=1

9) Saudi to buy Oil in Yuan - https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/us-dollar-vs-yuan-saudi-arabia-china-oil-sales-deal-2022-3?op=1

10) Petrodollar - https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/petrodollars.asp

11) China controls Solar Supply Chain - https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/solar/china-owns-the-solar-supply-chain-jeopardizing-the-energy-transition

12) China control large % of Raw Materials for Wind Energy Production - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308272027_China's_supply_of_critical_raw_materials_Risks_for_Europe's_solar_and_wind_industries

13) WEF/China Close relationship - https://www.weforum.org/press/2022/01/china-s-president-xi-opens-davos-agenda-with-call-for-greater-global-cooperation-to-tackle-common-challenges/

14) Klause Schwab - China is a model for many nations - https://www.foxnews.com/world/world-economic-forum-chair-klaus-schwab-declares-chinese-state-tv-china-model-many-nations

15) China social credit system - https://www.businessinsider.com/china-social-credit-system-punishments-and-rewards-explained-2018-4

16) Michael Shellenberger Renewables Can’t Save Planet - https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_shellenberger_why_renewables_can_t_save_the_planet?language=en

17) Alex Epstein Interview -

18) Plastics to Clean Energy - https://www.sandiego.edu/news/detail.php?_focus=71126

19) US Taxpayers funding global development projects - IMF/World Bank - https://www.imf.org/en/About/Factsheets/Sheets/2022/IMF-World-Bank-New

20) Nuclear Waste in US since 1950 fits onto football field - https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/5-fast-facts-about-spent-nuclear-fuel#:~:text=If%20we%20take%20that%20a,of%20less%20than%2010%20yards.

21) Hydrogen Power now more affordable - https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hydrogen-power-on-the-cheap/

22) Alex Epstein Agrees with Global Warming -

23) 1100 Scientists Challenge Climate Change - https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/news/1200-scientists-scholars-there-is-no-climate-emergency/