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Strategic Planning for Energyand the EnvironmentPublication details, including instructions forauthors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ustp20

North Quincy, MAJorge B. Wong aa Energy Management AdvisorVersion of record first published: 14 Dec 2012.

To cite this article: Jorge B. Wong (2013): North Quincy, MA, Strategic Planning forEnergy and the Environment, 32:3, 13-15

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10485236.2013.10596283

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13Winter 2013, Vol. 32, No. 3

To the Editor

North Quincy, MADr. Wayne C. TurnerEditor-in-ChiefStrategic Planning for Energy and Environment

Dear Wayne, Energy pricing is key. What truly motivates everyone to conserve, investigate, develop, implement, and use more sustainable ways of energy conversion and utilization is the fact that energy prices eventu-ally become high—something that is real enough (and its supply short enough) to cause us to think and compel us to act. If the ROI or NPV are not there, regardless of incentives or subsidies, new technologies and sources are hard to justify, unless all relevant costs are considered, including environmental externalities and security costs. Then, when the energy prices are sincere (affordable short-term or not), the right technologies become viable. Thus, energy affordability is always a case of “pay me now or pay me later,” and in some cases one can be penny wise and pound foolish when ignoring long-term, system-wide implications such as security; reliability; and clean air, food and water for generations to come. Of course, a social safety net must exist to help the needy. Even Chavez, the dictator from Venezuela, would give away heating oil during New England winters. As Steve Parker has analyzed, transportation energy and coal gen-eration are at the core of an integrated energy and environmental policy. A rational policy and strategy must incorporate the true system-wide life cycle cost to society, avoiding tunnel visions motivated by narrow political or corporate interests. Besides exploration, production, conver-sion, refining, generation, transmission, and distribution costs, energy costs include indirect or external costs such as security, war making, and environmental impact costs. Please notice that war making is a huge cost item, often disguised as government debt or deficit and not charged or allocated directly as energy overhead in the gas or diesel price we pay at the pump. War making, energy security, and environmental costs are delayed, both

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in effect and payment. The eventual payer is society or humanity as a whole. The payment includes high interest and some irreversible environmental and health penalties. Oil and gas companies, which sell most of the fuel used in transportation worldwide, do not pay their fair share of the costs of energy security, war making, and environmental consequences incurred by governments and nations worldwide. Thus, they don’t pass on those externalities or costs to the fuel user. Hence, oil prices are heavily subsidized and artificially low. No wonder the payback for a hybrid or electric vehicle is so slow. Energy management has come to fore and to action since the late 1970’s, but not so much because of government subsidies or techno-logical breakthroughs. The main driver that has inspired U.S. energy management professionals and organizations to spearhead the effort to becoming ever more energy efficient and cost effective—without sacri-ficing space comfort, product quality, or process productivity—was the impact of ever-increasing energy prices, scarce fuels, dirty processes, and wasteful practices. There came to be an understanding that, with sound energy management, one can make a unit of useful output with ever-decreasing energy input through relentless, continual improve-ments in the form of strategically planned and implemented ECO’s or energy conservation opportunities that encompass leadership, ingenuity, technology, and smart work. Kaizen and kaikaku are two Japanese words that mean “continual improvement” and “radical breakthrough,” respectively. Both every-day operational and maintenance kaizen (how we use and care for energy systems) and kaikaku technologies (truly innovative energy utilization and conversion systems) are needed. Such approaches will serve to as-sure energy security, reliability, affordability, and sustainability in the 21st century and beyond. Note that sustained kaizen and kaikaku can only occur if there is a “coalition of the willing.” So far, a critical mass of political will power and true leadership to plan, do, check, and act is our biggest gap. A compelling event is often needed for leaders to put aside partisan politics, narrow interests, and big egos. However, not even the tragic events of September 11, 2001 have caused U.S. and world leaders to put their heads and acts together to understand that one deep-root cause of the situation was our addiction to oil (especially the Middle-Eastern kind) and that what is needed is to think in unison and act accordingly. To sum up, at this moment the price of energy may not be high

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or real enough, nor the supply of energy short enough, to compel governments, organizations, and consumers to adopt and adapt more sustainable means and ways. However, some “paranoid” companies, such as GE or Toyota, do not wait for a crisis to adopt and adapt, so we can tell now who will be a survivor by the end of this century. To conclude, I quote the following:

“Only the paranoid survive”—Andy Grove

“Survival is optional”—W.E. Deming

Sincerely,Jorge B. Wong, Ph.D.Energy Management Advisor

————————————————————————————————ABOUT THE WRITER Jorge B. Wong is an energy management advisor and has advised public and private organizations on three continents. He is the general manager of Grupo WK and Director of Operational Excellence at Om-niGuide, Inc. Dr. Wong is Editor-in-Chief of the Distributed Generation and Alternative Energy Journal. Contact Info: jorgebwong@gmail.com.

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