Fifty Years of Energy Policy: 1973-2023

An exemplar of “applied history” as pioneered by Ernest May and Richard Neustadt, Fifty Years of Energy Policy, 1973–2023 by John Deutch masterfully demonstrates how analyzing the consequences of past policy decisions can help anticipate likely outcomes of different policy choices today. The high stakes of energy policy and practice are higher than ever making Fifty Years of Energy Policy timely for a wide range of readers—specialists in related fields, policy makers, investors, voters.

John Deutch’s combination of technical expertise, policy experience at the highest levels of government, and his natural instincts as a teacher makes for an unusually accessible book about a complex and fast-evolving topic.

The structure of Fifty Years of Energy Policy is elegant: brief and astute summaries of energy developments and policies from the Nixon to the Biden administrations followed by a concluding section that identifies five distinctive features of the past fifty years that remain relevant to current energy policy assessments. Deutch applies these to frame his insightful evaluation of climate change policies today.

Deutch’s approach to “applied history” will appeal to readers looking to evaluate a wide range of daunting is-sues—the food system, cryptocurrencies, social media, healthcare, housing, and transportation among them. The more complex and consequential the policy domain, the more valuable Fifty Years of Energy Policy becomes.

John Deutch has been at the center of U.S. energy policy for half a century. He shares in this sharply written volume what he has seen and what he has learned. Energy policy will be even more important in the next half century. Anyone who wants to be a player, or simply an intelligent observer, needs to reckon with Deutch’s compelling history.

—LAWRENCE H. SUMMERS, Charles W. Eliot Professor and President Emeritus at Harvard University, Secretary of the Treasury of the U.S., 1999-2001

John Deutch has done us a great service by drawing from his remarkable career as a scientist, public servant and private sector leader, key lessons to help us address the most difficult energy and environmental challenge of our time: global climate change. His recommendations for analysis-based solutions, even as he accurately depicts the political and institutional barriers to deploying those solutions, will greatly aid those who wish to make progress, rather than merely headlines.

—LINDA STUNTZ, served as Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy under George H.W. Bush. She has also served on the board of directors of Shell, Edison International, American Electric Power Company, Raytheon Company, and Schlumberger, Ltd.

John Deutch successfully brings his long involvement in energy and security policy and practice to bear on elucidating the opportunities and limitations of history for guiding the unprecedented multi-decadal clean energy transition needed to mitigate climate change. The scientist’s optimism about new technology and the policy practitioner’s challenge of dealing with frequent political shifts come through. Fifty Years of Energy Policy will help energy analysts and policy makers resolve that tension for the better.

—ERNEST J. MONIZ, MIT Professor Emeritus, 13th U.S. Secretary of Energy