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This week the grandson of my neighbor who was in the the July 4th ATV accident in our neighborhood, rang my doorbell. "Do you want to play basketball Mr. Kozera?" I was surprised and happy to see him. He looked fine. "Are you allowed to play basketball." "Yes, as long as I don't overexert myself." He told Lynnda and I how the accident happed, the ambulance ride, the concussion and overnight at the hospital.
Young people heal fast. We played PIG, a stationary shooting game. It was good to be able to play with him again. I asked why he and his friend weren't wearing helmets. He said they planned on driving slow and didn't think it was needed. Lesson learned. I am glad he is doing well.
In 1976 Fleetwood Mac released the single “Go Your Own Way.” It is about a couple living together who don't want the same things out of the relationship. Here are some of the lyrics;
Loving you, Isn’t the right thing to do
How can I ever change things, That I feel?
If I could, Baby, I’d give you my world
How can I, When you won’t take it from me?
You can go your own way, Go your own way
You can call it, Another lonely day
You can go your own way, Go your own way
Tell me why, Everything turned around
Packing up, Shacking up is all you want to do
If I could, Baby, I'd give you my world
Open up, Everything's waiting for you
You can go your own way …
From our visit in Scotland, I feel this song describes how they look at energy. The European Union is going one way on energy. The United Kingdom is no longer part of the EU. I sense Scotland is going their own way. Scotland's way. The Highlands has flowing streams in the mountains we visited that produce dependable electricity. The wind blew every day we were in Scotland. It is so dependable they design golf courses with it in mind. We only saw one wind factory in the Highlands. Most of what we saw were individual wind turbines designed to take care of power needs in a specific area. The Scots avoid the line loss and cost of shipping power long distance while taking advantage of a dependable natural resource. The wind is dependable in Scotland but not always predictable. The day we played golf at St. Andrew's there was no wind. The caddies told us the wind usually blows making the course much more difficult. Even in Scotland wind requires a dependable baseload backup when used to generate electricity.
In Scotland most buildings, houses and castles are hundreds of years old. Based on the many chimneys we saw they used to heat with coal or wood. Today rural Scotland, like the Highlands, uses heating oil, LPG, biomass and electricity. The 800-year-old castle where we stayed installed electric heaters. Our hotel in Inverness used central heat from natural gas. Other rural homes use heating oil, LPG and biomass like wood or wood pellets. Air conditioning isn't needed since highs were only in the 60s and 70s. Long summer days with 18 hours of daylight reduce power needs. Eighteen hours of winter darkness and cold require more electricity. We didn't see much solar power.
In the cities roughly 80% of Scottish homes use natural gas via standard heating boilers followed by electricity and biomass. Scotland gets its natural gas primarily from its North Sea gas and oil fields, which are over 50 years old. It is piped onshore to major processing hubs like Aberdeenshire and fed into the British National Gas Transportation system. Natural gas for additional demand is imported from Norway. The North Sea oil fields are depleting. Modern horizontal drilling is extending the life of the fields. The UK has prohibited new exploration in the North Sea but has implemented a transition program to use technology to better develop existing fields and maintain employment. Most oil and gas jobs are in the Aberdeen area, According to the industry body Offshore Energies UK, offshore energy supports roughly 128,000 direct and indirect jobs and is a large part of Scotland’s economy.
Aberdeen, where the Scottish oil and gas industry is located, reminds me of the USA. The interchanges off the freeway were similar to the USA with gas stations, big box stores and fast food like McDonald’s, Taco Bell and Starbucks. We had our only fast food meal in Scotland at McDonald’s in Aberdeen. Our cheeseburger, fries and ketchup were identical to the USA. Lynnda had a kid’s meal with a cheeseburger. Her sides were fresh cucumbers, and cantaloupe. A healthy meal. Most vehicles were gasoline or diesel. Even small towns like Dornoch had a few EV charging stations. I never saw a car connected to one. People in Scotland buy what they like and can afford.
There are multiple ways to solve most problems. As a corporate manager we always had sales, operation and safety goals. I never told people HOW to achieve the goal. They went their own way and exceeded most goals by using their ability, creativity, and circumstances. Fossil fuels can be part of the solution to our climate and environmental challenges. In Virginia, hydraulic fracturing ahead of mining has reduced coal mine methane emissions and produced needed dependable energy. The project has been carbon negative for decades. The EU's energy/climate solutions lowered their emissions by driving manufacturing to China, increasing global emissions.
The Scots have a beautiful green country with clean air and water. They went their own way providing all their energy needs without dirty imports from Russia or the Middle East and protected their environment. Some would try to force them into the EU mold. The EU and even the USA can learn from the Scots. Agree on the goal and allow people and organizations go their own way to achieve it.
Greg Kozera, gkozera@shalecrescentusa.com is director of marketing for Shale Crescent USA. He is a professional engineer with a masters in environmental engineering and over 40 years of experience in the energy industry. Greg is a leadership expert, high school soccer coach, professional speaker, author of four books and many published articles.