Sparklines

Over-Estimating the Short Term and Under-Estimating the Long Term

More transportation and industrial processes will be electrified in coming years.

High voltage power lines in Pinole, California, U.S., June 17, 2021. 

Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
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The energy sector is fond of its long-term forecasts and projections. There are many reasons why: energy assets have long financial and technological lives and they require years or sometimes decades to plan and build. Governments have a strong preference for reliable (and ideally low-cost) sources of power and fuel. Industries likewise require long-term assumptions on which to plan what, where, and how they will build their productive capacity.