How should countries be changing their mix of energy sources? Quite a range of factors affect the answer and they vary across countries. Among those factors are energy independence and the security of supplies, relative expense, political pressures, and climate change. This article conveys thoughts on the issue from several experts, based on their comments during a panel session on the future of energy at the recent Wharton Global Alumni Forum in Madrid. The main issues discussed here are changing attitudes to nuclear power, the push for a greater contribution from “renewable” sources, and the role of regulation and policy.

Lady Barbara Judge, president of the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority, covered the first topic. Unlike Forum host Spain, the United Kingdom (along with China, India, Turkey, Switzerland, and perhaps the USA) is planning to modernize all of its nuclear power plants over the coming years. This reflects a positive change in perceptions of nuclear power. Nuclear is getting a boost from the fact that it’s an obvious solution for those who believe global warming is a serious problem, but it also has the advantage over “renewable” sources in that it can provide a steady supply from plants taking up relatively small amounts of space using a fuel in plentiful supply. Judge points out the issues to address in this context, including where to locate plants, how to deal with a historically hostile press, how best to dispose of nuclear waste, and what proportion of a country’s energy products should be accounted for by nuclear.

Carmen Becerril, president of Acciona Energía, advocates pushing the contribution of renewable energy sources to much higher percentages than they currently represent. Becerril says that, in addition to other energy-related issues, “1.5 billion people around the world do not have access to commercial energy”, and that number is likely to grow over the next two decades.

Panelist Oscar Fanjul, CEO of Omega Capital, says that governments have made the energy sector an essential component of their foreign policy. The energy sector now has to focus on supply chain security and climate change. On the latter issue, he realistically notes that developing countries are much less willing to pay for non-polluting energy as compared to developed countries. While favoring renewable energy, Fanjul acknowledges problems with its decentralization and the intermittent quality of its supply. He sees an important role for regulators in determines the capacity of renewable energy and its structure.

Overall, the panel discussion—at least as reported in this article—is disappointing due to an apparent lack of critical discussion among the panelists.