16 student feature
Red & Black
12 april 2022
Ukranian Conflict Strains Europe & US Fuel Sources A C om -230
student contribution
prolonged consumer expense. Infrastructure without Russian gas and oil is yet to be put in place. Dr Robert East, associate professor, and director of environmental studies at Washington & Jefferson College (W&J), sees two paths FFDCs can take: “diversification or decarbonization.” Diversification implies the active decision for more options in the energy sector, such as wind and solar. Decarbonization goes a step further and eliminates all common use of fossil fuels, which is more commonly known as “net-zero.” Dr. East said that this level can be reached in the US before 2050. Courtesy traffic_analyzer via Getty Images East said the process The Russian-Ukranian conflict is having major impacts on fossil fuel-dependent countries. towards diversification in the US already started, producer of oil in the world in 2021. and “Putin’s invasion had MARKUS BECKER Accounting for about 45% of oil sped it up.” imports in the European Union, Russia Yet there is still some immediate STUDENT CONTRIBUTOR held Europe, and therefore the global action that the US can take right now. market, into an economic chokehold. Dr. East said the Defence Production That was until the Russian invasion Act can enable the US to “accelerate Looking at the current state of into Ukraine created so much political production technology” for electric world news might seem like a bleak pressure on European and American heat pumps. The US could then prospect, as the Russian invasion into leaders, that they had to cut their oil ship them to Europe to “hasten the Ukraine wages on. With Russia being imports from Russia. dependency on Putin’s gas,” East said. European Commission Chief one of the main energy providers in Going a step further, the production the world, it forces us to rethink our Ursula von der Leyen went so far as and usage of Electronic Vehicles (EVs) perspective on energy consumption in to announce that the EU wants to has to increase for both diversification Europe, the US, and other fossil fuel– eliminate Russian energy dependency and decarbonization. Dr. East believes by 2027. dependent countries (FFDCs). that customer pressure might serve as This move is poised to result in an important factor here. Rising gas Russia was the third largest
prices may force some consumers to look for alternatives to gas. Some students on W&J’s campus would be very open to that energy alternatives, though noting that this switch requires money. “I would definitely switch to electric if I could afford it,” Seif Ahmed, junior at W&J, said. W&J as a campus has already taken some efforts toward renewable energy. Recently, the college installed six EV charging stations in an effort to reduce the school’s ecological footprint. “This project is an important step in continuing to develop W&J as an environmentally friendly campus,” Corey Young, director of W&J’s Center for Energy Policy and Management, said in a press release. While Dr. East welcomes charging stations on campus, he concedes that “there’s a problem with some of them not working.” The infrastructure towards diversification or decarbonization clearly is not ready yet, neither on a national nor a local level. However, the ethical problems of economically supporting Russia after their invasion into Ukraine unexpectedly nudged many FFDCs into speeding up their process towards more eco-friendly energy consumption. It is very possible that governmental subsidies will increase to make the switch to EVs or solar/wind energy more attractive for consumers. The mix of customers willing to switch to EVs and those that would make the change to avoid further price spikes at the gas station, may nudge former FFDCs to diversification and decarbonization.
