Diana Tamari Sabbagh Fellow in Middle East Energy Studies | CES Lead, Energy and Geopolitics in the Middle East | Codirector, Middle East Energy Roundtable
Jim Krane, "On the reduced supply chain risks and mining involved in the transition from coal to wind" (Houston: Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, February 18, 2022), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2022. 102532.
Our article, “More transitions, less risk: How renewable energy reduces risks from mining, trade, and political dependence,” (Krane and Idel, 2021) responds to the misguided popular narrative in the United States that claims the ongoing shift to renewable power involves expanded mining and increased exposure to supply chain risks. We perform a series of investigations to demonstrate that the opposite is true: A switch from fossil fuel systems to renewables involves sharp declines in risk and mining. The five-point critique of our article by Dunlap and Marin does not refute our findings but rather argues that a path of continued growth in energy and economic output—even with fossil fuels replaced by zero‑carbon energy—remains a negative outcome (Dunlap and Marin [2022]). Our point-by-point response finds much of the criticism off-base. While the respondents' critiques represent valid concerns for future research, our article's narrow scope offers little room for such lines of inquiry.
Access the full article in Energy Research & Social Science. The original article is available in a previous issue of the same journal.
