Natural gas will be the new oil

The technology industry is intertwined with many other industries. Therefore throughout history we can see that technological advances have created massive changes in industries that were about to vanish. These advancements can either kill a dying industry or lend it new life.

We have witnessed this phenomenon in the music industry, the transportation industry and the education industry very recently. Energy is another industry that is immensely affected by technology. On the one hand, oil giants are researching new ways to dig better wells, while on the other the renewable technologies are fast becoming a major alternative. I recently learned that natural gas is being promoted as a replacement for oil products, while participating in a roundtable.

The Marmara Group Foundation and the Kalem Journal held a roundtable discussion titled “Will the ‘Arab Spring’ become the consumer’s harsh winter?” on Sept. 15 at the Wow Istanbul Hotel and Convention Center. The discussion featured the Honorable Hilmi Güler, the former Turkish minister of energy and natural resources, acting as moderator. The discussion panel was composed of Necdet Pamir, a leading energy expert and chairman of the Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) Energy Commission, Edward Chow, a senior fellow in the Energy and National Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and Dr. Bülent Alirıza, director of the Turkey Project at CSIS.

Chow, a part-time instructor at the Elliott School for International Affairs at George Washington University, said, “Next twenty years will be about gas.”

Oilprice.com states that “The success of unconventional oil and gas production from shale formation is reshaping the U.S. energy industry and may yet prove to be a major factor pulling U.S. GDP growth up off the floor. Comparing the relative performance of the conventional and unconventional oil and gas sectors of the industry is a study in contrasts.”

Now the technological race is between natural gas and renewable energy sources. All the analysts say the price of oil is going to rise, as it is getting harder and harder to dig, and there are no technological breakthroughs on the horizon. Turkey has issued subsidies for alternative energy because the country doesn’t have any viable oil or natural gas resources.

Zeynep Dereli writes that “The Turkish government wants to increase the share of renewables in energy generation by 30 percent, primarily through new wind and solar power. For wind power … Turkey has set a goal of increasing generating capacity from the current 2 megawatts (MW) to up to 20,000 MW, which would place it just behind Spain and Germany. Vision 2023 also aims to increase energy efficiency in Turkey by 20 percent.”

I am as supportive of the government’s policies regarding renewable energy as I am against their oppressive policies regarding the Internet. I hope Turkey will change Mr. Chow’s statement about natural gas to reference renewables.