Serious threat: former ExxonMobil boss Lee Raymond warned that modernising the US's energy infrastructure would require long-term policy commitments from government
US ‘needs huge energy investment’
The US’s ageing energy infrastructure will require massive investment in order to make much-needed efficiency improvements, former ExxonMobil chief executive Lee Raymond said today.
"It's not enough to just look at solar cells or windmills or whatever. You also have to get your head around the infrastructure that's required to have those things be effective and involved in the energy system," Reuters quoted Raymond as telling the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
"It's huge physically, without even debating where those things are going to be built. It's huge financially, and it takes a long time."
Raymond is now the chair of the US National Petroleum Council. The group released a report this summer saying that while the world is not running out of oil and gas, there are accumulating risks to securing global supplies.
The report, called Facing the Hard Truths About Energy, was a study to determine whether the world is running out of oil. But it also addressed other obstacles the energy industry is facing, including political risks, decaying infrastructure and the possible effects of policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gases.
Raymond said the infrastructure problem extends across both the oil and and power industries, and added it is important that government understand the issue because it means any changes to the nation's energy policy will require years of effort before any benefits are felt.
"If we decide to do something, we have to stick with it for a long, long period of time," he said.
Raymond declined to directly discuss climate change, but did address the possibility of carbon constraints and the necessity of improved energy efficiency.