Introduction

The previous chapters demonstrated that the century-old U.S. energy policy has entrenched not only private, for-profit firms that provide and distribute energy; traditional energy policy has also entrenched public-sector regulators and bureaucrats that, ostensibly, oversee private actors “in the public interest.” Today, policymakers are faced with several demands for a new energy path, and a growing consensus has established the contours of that policy. In addition to climate change, a new energy policy is necessary to respond to threats to national security and economic security, which arise from a dependence on foreign oil; to respond to a desire for environmentally sensitive energy resources; and to respond to the desire for economic growth through the more efficient distribution and use of energy. The problem, then, should be clear: How can a transition to a new, smart energy policy occur in the presence of embedded private and public-sector actors?

Entrenchment occurs with any institution whether it is public or private or whether it is profit or nonprofit. The belief in one's own press, the willingness to maintain a market niche by producing tomorrow what one produced yesterday, the desire to replicate past successes and ways of doing business, and the ambition to exist in perpetuity can render any firm, bureaucracy, or philanthropy ineffective.