New York Times Op-Ed Submission: We’re in the Energy Transition Together

The political tide may be turning, but our fight against climate change remains. No matter who’s in office, we must continue our efforts to lower carbon emissions today and in the future. Whether you find yourself backing an electrification agenda or leaning more toward an all-of-the-above approach to reducing carbon emissions, it’s time for Americans to come together and embrace solutions that truly make a difference.

For years, I have been advocating for a wide-path approach to decarbonization—I even wrote a book about it—and I believe 2025 is the year we will embrace this narrative. The energy transition is not a debate about clean versus dirty. It’s about lowering carbon intensity and harmful air pollutants by identifying innovative and affordable solutions that can be deployed as quickly as possible to improve environmental and human health.

We’ve witnessed the Inflation Reduction Act at work with the expansion of renewable energy sources like solar and the development of green hydrogen, while other energy sources have been largely ignored due to their perceived harm to the environment. We now have an opportunity to show the world what can be achieved when we combine these efforts with other readily available power sources like propane to collectively lower carbon emissions.

As we head into 2025, we’re not going to see a reversal of the progress we’ve made. We have the potential to make even more progress by advancing the use of low and zero-carbon liquid fuels that can easily displace diesel in trucking and hard-to-abate sectors such as ports. The U.S. Department of Energy recently announced its intent to fund research on sustainable propane and renewable chemicals that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ultimately drive down energy costs for consumers. Suffice it to say that the DoE does not waste its time on technologies that don’t have a future in the energy transition. If you need more convincing, the Illinois Institute of Technology recently announced a breakthrough in converting CO2 to renewable propane.

With Trump’s selection of Chris Wright as his energy secretary nominee, we’re likely to see a renewed commitment to natural gas, nuclear, and propane. We should view this as an opportunity to bolster a weakened electric system that has become more reliant on intermittent energy sources. This administration change allows us to keep our momentum while making an orderly progression toward a low-carbon future, which will pave the way for a more reliable and secure energy system. It would not be surprising to see diminished investments in green hydrogen due to challenges with scalability, safety, and cost. Once the darling of the energy transition, hydrogen’s time in the limelight is expiring while the possibilities of large and small nuclear reactors are becoming more attractive.

Focusing on additional energy sources does not mean renewable energy is going away. In fact, it’s the opposite. With the ongoing build-out of wind and solar facilities, we need to continue investments in the advancement of battery technology. Not only does this support renewable growth, but there’s also an opportunity to regain market share from China which currently leads the world in battery manufacturing. The more work we keep in the U.S., the more energy secure we will be. I think that’s something we can all get behind.

Finally, my hope for the new year is that we see a movement toward hybrid solutions for medium- and heavy-duty trucking. This includes the use of an electric battery and a highly efficient internal combustion engine powered by propane or renewable propane. The Advanced Clean Trucks rule and subsequent California Advanced Clean Fleets regulation supporting electric vehicles have made it difficult for fleet managers to switch to cleaner options. Trucking companies are actually hanging onto their diesel trucks because they can’t afford to purchase electric vehicles and/or they don’t meet their payload and range requirements. We must make this diesel’s last decade if we’re going to succeed in decarbonizing the transportation sector.

We’re in this together, and we have an obligation to keep charging forward with new ways to make renewable energy that will benefit all of us. The good news is that we have everything we need to tackle the greatest challenge of our time. As we enter the new year, let’s set our political divides aside and come together for the greater good of the environment.

– Tucker Perkins, author of Path to Zero: 12 Climate Conversations That Changed the World, host of the Path to Zero podcast, and President and CEO of the Propane Education and Research Council