Clean Over Green: Deloitte Whitepaper Suggests New Approach To Energy

A low-carbon future can be possible if policy makers and industry leaders shift their focus from green energy to clean energy, according a new whitepaper from Dr. Joseph A. Stanislaw, a senior advisor to Deloitte and founder of the advisory firm The JAStanislaw Group, LLC. Stanislaw is also co-founder and former president and CEO of Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

In his whitepaper, "Clean Over Green: Striking a New Energy Balance as We Build a Bridge to a Low-Carbon Future," Stanislaw explains that the "all-consuming global obsession with anything green has subsided" and stresses that energy decision makers should "move from breathless anticipation of a green dawn, to the more sober work of systematically and thoughtfully building toward a low-carbon future."

According to Stanislaw, this means pursuing energy options that are clean, not simply renewable and green. Implicit in this is the idea that oil, natural gas and coal have the potential to be clean. "The principle goal of policymakers should be to establish a level playing field that makes it easier to identify the cleanest fuels producible at the lowest cost, while also reducing energy use through efficiency and other technologies," said Stanislaw.

In the paper, Stanislaw stresses that now is a good time to shift from green to clean because we are "in the midst of creating a new development model that allows for industry leaders and policymakers to simultaneously promote economic growth and fight climate change."