Leen Weijers on renewable energy
From Leen Weijers at the Challey Institute · · NDSU Challey Institute
“Solar and wind today supply about 3% of the total global energy after trillions of investments, whereas hydrocarbons still make up about 85% of global energy.”
On , Leen Weijers, Senior Vice President of Engineering at LIBERTY ENERGY INC, spoke about renewable energy during Leen Weijers at the Challey Institute on NDSU Challey Institute.
About Leen Weijers
Leen Weijers, Senior Vice President of Engineering at Liberty, spoke at the Challey Institute on April 17, 2025, about energy, human progress, and the shale revolution. He stated that about 85% of global primary energy comes from fossil fuels, and that solar and wind supply about 3% of total global energy despite trillions in investments. Weijers said there is no energy transition currently, only energy addition, and argued that poverty reduction requires cheap, abundant, clean, secure, and reliable energy. He advocated for no subsidies for any energy source, saying the marketplace should decide the most efficient sources without government distortion. Weijers said the American Shale Revolution lowered energy costs for world consumers and reduced US per capita CO2 emissions by displacing coal with natural gas. He attributed the shale revolution's success in the US largely to property rights, where citizens mostly own mineral rights, creating incentives to develop energy resources. Weijers said that when evaluating fossil fuels, many analyses focus only on costs like CO2 emissions but ignore benefits such as replacing indoor air pollution that kills millions annually in developing countries. He stated that climate change is happening and CO2 contributes to warming, but that a single problem-single solution mindset oversimplifies the issue and ignores other crises and trade-offs.