The moral case for fossil fuels

Here's a question for Arizonans to ponder: Is it good that your state generates 67 percent of its electricity from fossil fuels?

I'd wager that most of you would say no. One recent poll shows that 51 percent of voters want to reduce fossil fuel usage, while only 22 percent want to increase their use.

But the 22 percent are on to something. I've spent the better part of my life researching fossil fuels — their pros and their cons — and I've come to an inescapable conclusion: Fossil fuels are morally praiseworthy and our lives would be better if we ramp up their use.

To understand why, we have to take a step back and look at fossil fuels in the scope of human history.

The energy sources that fall into this category — oil, coal and natural gas — played little to no role in mankind's cultural or economic development until the late 1700s and early 1800s. Only then did humanity recognize fossil fuels' potential to generate power. That power created the technological and economic advances that took us from no indoor plumbing to landing on the moon in less than 200 years.

Increased fossil fuel use correlates with every positive metric of human well-being, from life expectancy to income to nourishment to clean water access to safety.

The last few decades demonstrate this trend most clearly. Fossil fuel usage has been steadily growing across the world. Developing countries like China and India have driven that growth more than any other countries, using fossil fuels to power their economies. At the same time, they lifted billions of people out of poverty, an unprecedented feat in human history.

Fossil fuels have also helped improve the world's access to clean water. According to World Bank data, access to clean water increased from 76 percent of world population in 1990 to 89 percent in 2012. Technological advances in pollution reduction were enabled by cheap, fossil fuel-generated energy.

We're also safer than at any point in history, thanks to oil, coal and natural gas. Climate-related deaths are down 98 percent over the last 80 years. Last year saw a record low of 21,122 such deaths worldwide, compared to a high of 3.7 million in 1931, when world population was less than a third of its current size. Thank sturdy homes, heating, air-conditioning, mass irrigation, drought-relief convoys, and advance-warning systems — all made possible by fossil fuel-generated energy.

All human progress depends on innovation, which depends on energy. Affordable and abundant energy is thus the cornerstone of human progress. And fossil fuels are the most affordable and abundant of all. Alternative energy sources are either too expensive, too difficult to access or simply inefficient.

Fossil fuels thus have a profound moral importance. They allow us to improve human well-being and make the world a better place. For this reason, fossil fuels are likely to power the innovation that ultimately addresses climate change itself.

But that won't happen if America and other rich, industrialized nations continue their crusade against cheap and affordable energy. No matter how praiseworthy it seems, curbing fossil fuel use will only deny the developing world the opportunities that led to our own wealth and health. And it will also prevent us from building on the progress that has made the 21st century the best period in human history to be alive.

Alex Epstein, a Southern California resident, is president of the Center for Industrial Progress, a for-profit think-tank seeking to bring about a new industrial revolution.