• Panacea or Pipe Dream? Energy Policy and the Search for Alternatives

  March 13, 2007 - Special one day symposium

  The United States must lessen the intensity of its dependence on fossil fuels or face rising challenges to its influence in global affairs on everything from security to climate change. With that as a premise, a recent symposium hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations, titled “Panacea or Pipe Dream? Energy Policy and the Search for Alternatives,” surveyed the options available to policymakers and professionals in the energy field. Participants in the symposium’s four sessions—including energy experts with top private and public sector experience and moderated by the Council’s Sebastian Mallaby—all faulted what they said were sluggish federal policies on research, electricity grid regulation, and management of the current oil-dominated energy policy.

  Summary Report of Symposium: Downloadable PDF

  
  

   

  • Meetings  
  • Further Readings  

   

  Meetings

  A Foreign Policy Mandate? Thirty Years of Oil and Gas (Session 1)

  Symposium

  
  March 13, 2007

  Related Projects: Panacea or Pipe Dream? Energy Policy and the Search for Alternatives, Nexus of Science, Technology, and Foreign Policy

  Speakers:	David L. Goldwyn, President, Goldwyn International Strategies
  	J. Robinson West, Chairman, PFC Energy
  Presider:	Sebastian Mallaby, Director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies, Deputy Director of Studies, and Paul A. Volcker Senior Fellow for International Economics, Council on Foreign Relations

  Transcript: Panacea or Pipe Dream? Energy Policy and the Search for Alternatives: Session I: A Foreign Policy Mandate: Thirty Years of Oil And Gas
  Audio: Panacea or Pipe Dream? Energy Policy and the Search for Alternatives: Session 1: A Foreign Policy Mandate? Thirty Years of Oil and Gas (Audio)

  This meeting is on the record.

   

  The Range of the Possible: Energy Alternatives in the Market (Session 2)

  Symposium

  
  March 13, 2007

  Related Projects: Panacea or Pipe Dream? Energy Policy and the Search for Alternatives, Nexus of Science, Technology, and Foreign Policy

  Speakers:	John E. Bryson, Chairman and CEO, Edison International; cofounder, Natural Resources Defense Council
  	Vijay Vaitheeswaran, Correspondent, The Economist; Author of "POWER TO THE PEOPLE"
  Presider:	Sebastian Mallaby, Director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies, Deputy Director of Studies, and Paul A. Volcker Senior Fellow for International Economics, Council on Foreign Relations

  Transcript: Panacea or Pipe Dream? Energy Policy and the Search for Alternatives: Session II: Energy Alternatives in the Market
  Audio: Panacea or Pipe Dream? Energy Policy and the Search for Alternatives: Session 2: The Range of the Possible: Energy Alternatives in the Market (Audio)

  This meeting is on the record.

   

  What Next? Government Action and the Policy Puzzle (Session 3)

  Symposium

  
  March 13, 2007

  Related Projects: Panacea or Pipe Dream? Energy Policy and the Search for Alternatives, Nexus of Science, Technology, and Foreign Policy

  Speakers:	Brian Bilbray, Member, U.S. House of Representatives (R-CA)
  	James E. Rogers, Chairman, President and CEO, Duke Energy
  	Timothy E. Wirth, President, United Nations Foundation
  Presider:	Sebastian Mallaby, Director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies, Deputy Director of Studies, and Paul A. Volcker Senior Fellow for International Economics, Council on Foreign Relations

  Transcript: Panacea or Pipe Dream? Energy Policy and the Search for Alternatives: Session III: Government Action and the Policy Puzzle
  Audio: Panacea or Pipe Dream? Energy Policy and the Search for Alternatives: Session 3: What Next? Government Action and the Policy Puzzle (Audio)

  This meeting is on the record.

   

  Energy Policy and the Search for Alternatives: Keynote Address (Session 4)

  Symposium

  
  March 13, 2007

  Related Projects: Panacea or Pipe Dream? Energy Policy and the Search for Alternatives, Nexus of Science, Technology, and Foreign Policy

  Speaker:	James E. Rogers, Chairman, President and CEO, Duke Energy
  Presider:	Sebastian Mallaby, Director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies, Deputy Director of Studies, and Paul A. Volcker Senior Fellow for International Economics, Council on Foreign Relations

  Transcript: Panacea or Pipe Dream? Energy Policy and the Search for Alternatives: The United States' Future Need for Power and Energy
  Audio: Panacea or Pipe Dream? Energy Policy and the Search for Alternatives: Session 4: A Conversation with James E. Rogers (Audio)

  This meeting is on the record.

  to top

   

  Further Readings

  Council Task Force Report: National Security Consquences of U.S. Oil Dependency

  Daily News Analysis: Making Ethanol Policy Practical

  Council Report: Climate Change: Debating America's Policy Options

  Meeting with Exxon Mobile CEO, Rex Tillerson: Audio and Video

  to top

• The Nonproliferation Regime

  

  Explore international efforts to curb nuclear proliferation with a new interactive from CFR's program on International Institutions and Global Governance.

  New Council Special Reports

  
  

  The Canadian Oil Sands: Energy Security vs. Climate Change

  The Canadian oil sands present an important challenge to policymakers: they promise energy security benefits but present climate change problems. Michael A. Levi assesses the energy security and climate change effects of the oil sands and makes recommendations for U.S. policymakers within the context of broader bilateral relations with Canada.

  The National Interest and the Law of the Sea

  This report explores an important element of the maritime policy regime: the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Author Scott G. Borgerson examines the international negotiations that led to the convention, the history of debates in the United States over whether to join it, and the strategic importance of the oceans for U.S. foreign policy today.

  Complete list of Council Special Reports

  New Books

  

  In War of Necessity, War of Choice, Richard N. Haass contrasts the decisions that shaped the conduct of two wars between the United States and Iraq involving the two presidents Bush and Saddam Hussein, and writes an authoritative, personal account of how U.S. foreign policy is made, what it should seek, and how it should be pursued.

  In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia E. Sweig presents a remarkably accessible portrait of Cuba’s unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years, including its internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.

  As Ray Takeyh shows in Guardians of the Revolution, behind the famous personalities and extremist slogans of Iran is a nation that is far more pragmatic—and complex—than many in the West have been led to believe.

  Complete list of CFR Books

  David Rockefeller Studies Program Contacts

  For more information on the David Rockefeller Studies Program, contact:

  Sebastian Mallaby
  Director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies, Deputy Director of Studies, and Paul A. Volcker Senior Fellow for International Economics
  smallaby@cfr.org

  Janine Hill
  Deputy Director of Studies Administration
  +1.212.434.9753
  jhill@cfr.org

   

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