The Energy Trilemma



An article entitled “Climate rhetoric: What’s an energy trilemma?”
seeks to show that the energy trilemma is not a single concept.

SCIENCE, December 23, 2013, available at
https://www.carbonbrief.org/climate-rhetoric-whats-an-energy-trilemma

It begins with a common use of the term ‘energy trilemma’: a balance between energy security, social impact and environmental sensitivity, viewed as conflicting aspects of energy production.
The writer points out that in philosophy, a trilemma is a choice between three unfavourable options, whereas in economics it is a trade-off between three goals, in which two are pursued at the expense of the third. The energy trilemma seems different from either, as resolving it might mean achieving all three goals, within a range accepted by the interested parties. The same trilemma could also be presented as insoluble, if these parties cannot agree. For example, the UK is legally bound to decarbonisation, but energy security is of vital national interest, and energy cost may be uppermost in the public mind.
Other interpretations are examined, framing the question in terms of cost, challenge, or competition, and an awareness of their range may be useful in considering the issue of decarbonisation and fuel poverty.

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