By Jack Rogers
From the March/April 2014 issue
Editor in Chief
Business Facilities
Five years ago, the U.S. energy picture looked almost as gloomy as the national economy. We were still addicted to foreign oil, and renewable energy seemed like a good excuse to throw around stimulus funds but offered little relief for our exponentially expanding appetite for electricity.
Well, what a difference five years can make. The United States has undergone nothing short of an Energy Revolution and reclaimed it position as the world’s largest energy producer. Breakthroughs in horizontal drilling technology (a.k.a. fracking) have unlocked vast energy resources held in deep shale formations, producing an oil boom in North Dakota and giving us access to 500-trillion cubic meters of cleaner natural gas spread over at least a dozen states.
Meanwhile, the renewable energy industry has stepped up its game and proved it’s ready to play in the big leagues in wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal and biofuels. Exhibit A is the transformation on display in Texas, legendary home of Big Oil. The Lone Star State has hooked up its national leadership in wind power generation with a new $6.8-billion transmission system that will carry wind energy throughout the state. Texas also leads everyone in production of natural gas.
We encourage you to join us as we take our panoramic tour of the New Energy that is powering growth across the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific and all points in between, beginning on p. 10. The U.S. is back and we’re no. 1.
Memo to the gangsters in the Kremlin: if you want to go head to head with us—energy-wise—we will bury you.
