tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6199410.post4413292335055959473..comments2023-12-27T08:02:59.927-05:00Comments on Energy Outlook: The 2013 Energy Trust Barometer: Mixed ReadingsGeoffrey Styleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18047970229068397492noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6199410.post-89574071326615338402013-05-20T15:13:57.644-04:002013-05-20T15:13:57.644-04:00David,
One of the panelists raised this issue. He...David,<br />One of the panelists raised this issue. He cited a common answer he hears to the question of where electricity comes from: "The wall." <br /><br />I've had numerous convesations with friends and acquaintances about energy. The most frequest questions in the last couple of years have related to shale gas and hydraulic fracturing. After about 10 minutes of explanation of the separation between aquifers and hydrocarbons in the subsurface, and how horizontal drilling and fracing work, the light usually goes on. I don't present it as risk-free, either.<br /><br />Put these anecdotes together and I conclude that although the energy industry could do more to educate the public--for which trust is a prerequisite--the real failure occurs in our public schools. The production and use of energy is only going to get more complex, yet most Americans seem to leave school without even a basic grasp of energy, geology, etc. It's one reason I do what I can, here.Geoffrey Styleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18047970229068397492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6199410.post-2556996613074974122013-05-20T13:11:51.857-04:002013-05-20T13:11:51.857-04:00Geoffrey,
I believe the overall complexity of the...Geoffrey,<br /><br />I believe the overall complexity of the energy industry (transport fuel and/or electricity) creates a burden of understanding for the average person. The average person has (in my opinion) a lack of understanding on what it takes to get a gallon of gasoline in their tank or a kilowatt into their home. Its sort of the "black box" syndrome and its too difficult to get them up to speed. So when we talk about trust it may have a lot to do with lack of knowledge leading to lack of trust. How do we fix this? Education, information, better "table top" style discussions on the challenges we face in energy. <br /><br />I don't feel its getting better, I feel its getting worse. Just ask anyone you meet on the street in a casual way how the electricity is generated and where the energy comes from. (First they'll think you're weird for even asking). The odds are very much in favor of that person giving you the "I have no clue" sort of response.<br /><br />Something as important as energy is left to so much misunderstanding.<br /><br />DTDavid Trahanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11564695857038371635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6199410.post-78004005823363862612013-05-17T09:38:13.883-04:002013-05-17T09:38:13.883-04:00Ed,
For part of my career, I was totally focused o...Ed,<br />For part of my career, I was totally focused on making sure that when customers turned up at my former company's service stations, there'd be fuel for them to buy. We "earned our stripes" through such reliability, whether our refineries were running like tops or down for maintenance or unexpected repairs. Wasn't always easy, either.<br /><br />However, the point of Edelman's findings, consistent with trends I've been watching for more than 10years, is that that's often not enough. Customers take that level of performance entirely for granted, while non-customer, non-shareholder stakeholders don't particularly care about metrics like on-time, low cost, no interruptions, etc. And if you blow it in some other, non-operational aspect of your business, it can wreck your reputation and undo all the good work you think you've done. The example that brought this home for me was Texaco's "diversity crisis" in the late-1990s: http://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/02/business/how-much-has-texaco-changed.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm<br />Geoffrey Styleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18047970229068397492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6199410.post-46032029344272219762013-05-16T19:59:39.732-04:002013-05-16T19:59:39.732-04:00The energy industry "earns its stripes" ...The energy industry "earns its stripes" every day, when a customer flips a switch, lights a burner or fuels a car. The triviality of those events is a testament to the performance of the energy industry, in spite of the "help" it receives for government at various levels.Ed Reidnoreply@blogger.com