Fossil fuel dependence undermines energy security, warn experts

The ongoing conflict with Iran and resultant global fuel crisis underscore that true energy security and independence remain unattainable as long as nations rely on fossil fuels, according to U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett and academic Michael Shank.

Wars over oil and gas access, attacks on power plants and energy grids, and reliance on finite resources only heighten a country’s vulnerability, the authors argue. Recent Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, drone attacks on power stations, and Kyiv’s struggle to prepare for another winter of grid assaults illustrate the urgency.

No nation can achieve energy security or independence while its fuel supply remains finite and fossilized, and its power plants and grids remain centralized and dependent on fossil fuels, they write. Such infrastructure becomes easy targets for adversaries.

An alternative path exists: decarbonized and decentralized energy. Using local renewable resources for power, heat, and cooling, backed by battery storage, offers immediate relief from precarious reliance on large power plants or grids, the authors contend.

Ukrainian communities are increasingly adopting this approach in response to Russian attacks on fossil-fueled power plants and grids. Municipalities across Ukraine are rapidly transitioning, directly responding to the war.

With the conflict with Iran accelerating the renewable energy transition, gains are evident: countries like Spain are quickly shifting to renewables, insulating themselves from gas price shocks and protecting against future blackouts.

However, in the global rush to abandon fossil fuels, frontline communities must not be left behind. With no end to Russian aggression in sight, more Ukrainian power plants and grids will be bombed, leaving residents without power, heat, or water, the authors warn.

Many Ukrainians who had heat last winter had already switched to solar power, heat pumps, and battery storage, aided by local nonprofits such as EcoAction and Ecoclub, as well as foreign donors.

Initiatives like the Hromada Project—named after the Ukrainian term for “community”—are essential to help Ukrainians endure the war by connecting local NGOs with global public and private sector support.

Governments should follow this model: helping communities worldwide achieve energy security and independence through local renewable power, battery storage, and electrification. China has already dominated global markets for wind, solar, batteries, and electric vehicles as a result.

Instead, the authors assert, President Donald Trump and his Republican allies seek to keep the U.S. addicted to fossil fuels—weaponizing the Department of Defense to stall onshore wind, repealing renewable energy tax incentives, and using taxpayer dollars to bribe clean energy developers to abandon projects. This endangers adoption of secure, affordable, clean energy and exposes Americans to rising electricity rates and riskier grid conditions.

Before another war and further increases in defense budgets, the authors conclude, the time is now to double down on what truly ensures security and independence: transitioning off fuels that spark conflict and onto decentralized, infinite energies available in every community worldwide. U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett represents Texas’s 37th district and serves on the Ukraine caucus and House sustainable energy and environment coalition. Michael Shank, Ph.D., is adjunct faculty at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs and George Mason University’s Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution.