Energy decarbonization requires an all-of-the-above approach

Experts have long said that in order to have affordable, reliable and increasingly clean energy, we need an all-of-the-above approach to energy. To meet our world’s energy needs, we need fossil fuels, wind, solar, nuclear, geothermal and more.

Similarly, to continue decarbonizing our energy grids at home and around the world, no solutions should be off the table. This was evident to me during a recent tour of The Southern Company’s National Carbon Capture Center in Wilsonville, Alabama.

Some environmental groups have argued that carbon capture technology as a climate solution is simply a handout to fossil fuel companies. After the Energy Act of 2020, a coalition of left-of-center environmental groups wrote a letter opposing the provisions that incentivized carbon capture technology. This truly couldn’t be more unproductive.

Yes, part of the solution is to transition energy forms from emitting sources to non-emitting sources. Clean sources of energy — from wind and solar to nuclear energy and geothermal — couldn’t be more important. At this time, however, a full transition is unrealistic and would lower quality of life for millions of people. Carbon capture technology, which is often used to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) as it’s being emitted from energy production, makes fossil fuel production cleaner, which is a significant step forward.

At the National Carbon Capture Center, which is sponsored by the Department of Energy, all forms of carbon capture are being tested. Additionally, the center is experimenting with how to utilize that carbon once it’s captured. Currently, the technology exists and could be deployed at scale, but there are significant challenges, such as decreasing energy loss from utilizing carbon capture, how to utilize captured carbon and reducing costs.

Part of the Southern Company’s success is this all-of-the-above approach to energy and decarbonization. It’s why the company has reduced emissions approximately 50 percent from 2007 levels. From solar and wind to fossil fuels to nuclear power to carbon capture technology, the utility provider has explored various options to keep the lights on for their customers and reduce emissions. More energy providers should employ these practical, innovative approaches.

For all of the urgency within the environmental movement, there’s an unrealistic opposition to incremental progress. It seems some climate activists’ favorite phrase is “not enough,” a critique that they aim at nearly every climate initiative out there. It’s true that carbon capture alone is not enough to decarbonize the grid or solve climate change. No solution alone is. That’s why we need this all-of-the-above, everything-on-the-table approach. It’s the only strategy that will work.

I was incredibly encouraged, as a climate activist, by what I saw at the National Carbon Capture Center because I was able to see climate solutions in action. For each and every community across this country, climate solutions will look different. In Alabama, which gets most of its energy from natural gas and coal, carbon capture will be instrumental in decarbonizing.

Our approach to decarbonization must value steps forward, whether they are monumental or incremental. The work that the Department of Energy and Southern Company, among others, are doing in Alabama could reshape the trajectory of energy in this country and around the world, if we just give it a chance.

Benji Backer is the president and founder of the American Conservation Coalition (ACC). Follow him on Twitter: @BenjiBacker