Power and electricity generation come from an array of fossil and renewable sources like natural gas, nuclear, hydro, solar, wind, coal and geothermal. On the other end of the spectrum, 90% of transportation depends on petroleum. That fundamental difference defines a very different policy landscape. Until our cars, trucks, locomotives, ships and airplanes transition to electricity, transportation needs to be a separate conversation.
n not only sharing a stage but advocating for the same thing: an all-of-the-above approach to reducing carbon emissions in transportation. It continues the trend we’ve seen in New Mexico and elsewhere. With an eye on the long game and global trends in a single direction, big oil companies seem to be warming to incentive-based policies that boost ROI on investments to decrease carbon emissions and diversify assets.
These data make it clear that ‘drill baby drill’ is not the answer to the economic consequences of oil dependency, no matter how you look at the numbers. Oil enjoys about 90% market share of transportation fuel in the U.S. and higher in the rest of the world. That simple fact accounts for the uniform global price, and further highlights the hard reality: the petroleum industry enjoys a de facto monopoly in transportation.
