He isn’t aware of it yet.
He won’t like it when he knows.
But President Donald J. Trump’s bombing of Iran has done more to foster the windmills he hates than he could possibly imagine.
Watch him go on and on about the evils of windmills, here and here. As always, without benefit of facts.
As the leader of Steam Punk Nation, our president would like to see windmills disappear. They won’t. Here in Texas, a state that adores oil and gas, wind and solar have been the largest additions to the Texas energy grid over the last five years. That’s according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). While those years are pre-Trump and his vision of unlimited drilling, it is now a good bet we’ll see more wind, solar and other renewable development in the next 10 years than we saw in the last decade.
Why? Because it will be necessary.
Ironic, yes.
But serious.
The Unfolding Disaster
How did this happen?
Simple. He partnered with Israel to bomb Iran. He did this without consulting Congress. Without consulting our long-term allies. It’s his war.
Now Iran’s brutal theocratic government is striking back by shutting down the flow of oil and gas.
Maybe most of the Arabian peninsula as well. We’ll see.
Exactly how much the flow will be restricted, and for how long, is yet to be determined. But it’s already longer than anyone wants. (Except Russia. It benefits.)
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a cringing peacenik. I side with the Israeli’s. When a theocratic national government has vowed, decade after decade, to exterminate your nation, there is only one response.
Exterminate that government back. Everything else is a sideshow.
What Happens Now
But actions have consequences. A bright future for windmills is a consequence. That bright future extends to anything that will reduce global dependence on oil and gas. Anything.
If you’d like to find more light in this darkness, I suggest a visit to the Rational Optimist Society on Substack.
The guiding principle behind this is an idea stated half a century ago by Amory Lovins. His response to the first oil crisis, the OPEC embargo of 1973-‘74, was published in World Affairs. “Energy Strategy: The Road Not Taken”declared a simple reality. The least expensive energy we could “find” was not in more drilling. It was in making our energy use more efficient.
Returning To The Road Not Taken
Efficiency, Lovins asserted, is faster and cheaper than the lengthy process of finding and developing new sources of oil and gas. Lovins and his Rocky Mountain Institute have pursued this in amazing depth ever since.
Efficiency is still a gigantic opportunity. It’s an opportunity in transportation. It’s an opportunity in shelter. It’s an opportunity in commercial buildings. It’s an opportunity in our electrical grid. It’s an opportunity in employment.
The oil and gas industry does everything in its power to counter Lovins’ way of thinking. This includes influencing elected officials with abundant contributions.
It doesn’t help that most of us are addicted to an errant notion. The best solution for everything isn’t just to add more, build more, or provide more. The best solution can be simplification and less.
Skeptical?
That’s OK. This isn’t easy to get our heads around. But the economics work. It works in our overloaded minds, too. It works in investing. It’s why Jack Bogle, founder of Vanguard, referred so often to Occam’s Razor, the idea that the simplest solution, the one with the least assumptions, was likely to be the best
Stay positive. Keep it simple. Live local. Love your neighbor.
Related columns:
Scott Burns, “Less, The Road Not Taken,” 9/11/2021: https://scottburns.com/less-the-road-not-taken-the-alternative-to-decades-of-war-in-the-middle-east/
Scott Burns, “Prius At Five,” 4/27/2008: https://scottburns.com/prius-at-five/
Scott Burns, “Be The World Leader In Energy Efficiency,” 3/29/2005: https://scottburns.com/be-the-world-leader-in-energy-efficiency/
Scott Burns, “Dump the Tax Code,” 3/27/2005: https://scottburns.com/dump-t he-tax-code/
Scott Burns, “Different Drummer, Right March,” 8/19/2001: https://scottburns.com/different-drummer-right-march/
Scott Burns, “Overcoming Wealth Addiction,” 10/27/2002: https://scottburns.com/overcoming-wealth-addiction/
Sources and References:
PBS NEWS: Trump on windmills: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wkHCSbSwkw
Global News: Trump on windmills: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbcVF4qrTXU
Amory Lovins, “Energy Strategy: The Road Not Taken?”, 1976: https://rmi.org/insight/energy-strategy-the-road-not-taken/
Rocky Mountain Institute “Reality Check” pages: https://rmi.org/reality-check/
The Rational Optimist Society Substack page: https://rationaloptimistsociety.substack.com
Wikipedia article on Occam’s Razor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor
This information is distributed for education purposes, and it is not to be construed as an offer, solicitation, recommendation, or endorsement of any particular security, product, or service.
Photo by Jeswin Thomas: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photography-of-person-holding-flashlight-near-windmills-during-night-time-1154460/
(c) Scott Burns, 2026