Good News from Energy

Geoffrey Styles' blog Energy Outlook reviews the energy news from 2009. It ends with this positive note, a note of compromise and realism, a step back from hysterical doom-and-gloom while being pragmatic and exercising a modest precautionary principle:

Neither Copenhagen nor Climategate spells the end of action on climate change, but they might just mark a turning point toward a more pragmatic and less dogmatic set of responses, perhaps along the lines of a compromise being floated in the US Senate that would consider the contributions of all forms of energy to a more secure energy future with lower emissions. That aligns with the gradual replacement of a narrative of oil scarcity by one of natural gas abundance and the deft use of renewables, with a much stronger emphasis on efficiency and conservation, which still look like the low-hanging fruit for both energy security and climate change.

Now... if only more people step down from their soapboxes and look realistically at things with an eye to cost/benefit and jobs and the well being of working people, then maybe a corner has been turned and the future will be better.