88
" The prospects for electric power in the twenty-first century can be summarized in a single word: growth. Electricity consumption, both worldwide and in the United States, has doubled since 1980. It is expected, on a global basis, to about double again by 2035. And the absolute amount of the doubling this time will be so much larger, as it is off a much larger base. An increase on such a scale is both enormous and expensive. The cost for building the new capacity to accommodate this growth between now and 2035 is currently estimated at $10 trillion—and is rising. But that expansion is what will be required to support what could be by then a $130 or $140 trillion world economy.1 Such very big numbers generate very big questions—and a fierce battle. What kind of power plants to construct and, then, how to get them built? The crux of the matter is fuel choice. Making those choices involves a complex argument over energy security and physical safety, economics, environment, carbon and climate change, values and public policy, and over the basic requirement of reliability—keeping on not just the lights but everything else in this digital age. The centrality of electricity makes the matter of fuel choice and meeting future power needs one of the most fundamental issues for the global economy. "
― Daniel Yergin , The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World
89
" Their particular ire was directed at David Swensen, the legendary head of the Yale endowment, whose investment returns had, among other things, financed the scholarships of many students. “If we stopped producing fossil fuels today, we would all die,” Swensen had recently said. “We wouldn’t have food. We wouldn’t have transportation. We wouldn’t have air conditioning. We wouldn’t have clothes.” He added, “The real problem is the consumption” and “every one of us is a consumer.” The president of another major university was surprised when told that the financial loss from divesting energy would be greater than the university’s entire budget for undergraduate scholarships. "
― Daniel Yergin , The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations
90
" Yet, while energy transition has become a pervasive theme all around the world, disagreement rages, both within countries and among them, on the nature of the transition: how it unfolds, how long it takes, and who pays. “Energy transition” certainly means something very different to a developing country such as India, where hundreds of millions of impoverished people do not have access to commercial energy, than to Germany or the Netherlands. "
― Daniel Yergin , The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations