Scott Montgomery

Scott Montgomery

Scott L. Montgomery is an author, geoscientist, and affiliate faculty member in the Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington, Seattle. He has 25 years' experience in the energy industry, where he worked on projects in many parts of the world. His many technical publications include papers, monographs, articles, and textbooks, mainly focused on cutting edge hydrocarbon plays, technologies, related impacts and issues.

Since 2010, his energy writings have moved to general audiences and a wide variety of topics of global concern. These have ranged from climate change to fracking, and included energy issues, technologies, and geopolitics in most parts of the world, as well as global trends and their relation to demographics. Scott’s writings have appeared in online journals such as The Conversation, Newsweek, Salon, Forbes, Fortune, and The Huffington Post. He also lectures publicly on these subjects and provides commentary for online and broadcast (radio, tv) venues both in the U.S. and internationally.

In addition to his popular writing and speaking, Montgomery has published 12 books on a range of subjects, including energy. These include, most recently, Seeing the Light: Making the Case for Nuclear Power in the 21st Century (Cambridge, 2017) and The Shape of the New: Four Big Ideas and How They Built the Modern World(Princeton), co-authored with Dan Chirot. The latter work was selected by The New York Times as one of the 100 Most Notable Books of 2015. Other works include Does Science Need a Global Language? (Chicago, 2013) and Powers that Be: Global Energy for the 21st Century and Beyond (Chicago, 2010).

Post Archive

27 February 2019
Scott L. Montgomery explores the Kingdom's nuclear ambitions. Much has been made in recent weeks about the Trump Administration’s attempted nuclear trist with the Saudis.…
05 November 2018
Scott Montgomery on why nuclear fusion deserves our attention. In the 1970s, when I was a graduate student in geosciences, the long-term future of energy had a single name:…
29 October 2018
Part 2 of this essay continues the topic of a post-carbon future but from an unconventional perspective. It delves into questions about how we conceive of “clean” energy and how…
22 October 2018
This is the first of a two-part column on the subject of a non-carbon energy future, a subject that is much discussed in energy circles and will continue to be. Part 1 outlines…
07 August 2018
Scott L. Montgomery argues that energy insecurity can blend with ideas of historical purpose, national identity, and global ambition to deadly effect. As a global power, China…
18 June 2018
Scott L. Montgomery explores the prospects of the latest talks between the USA and North Korea leading to complete denuclearization. Now that the awaited meeting of the minds and…
22 May 2018
By now barrels of ink have spilled over the Trump Administration’s decision to violate the Iran Nuclear Deal. The announcement itself, full of colorful language and blunt…
06 April 2018
Why we can't explore global health without accounting for everyday energy needs. Any concern about global health today is a concern about energy. These two domains belong…
13 March 2018
Scott L. Montgomery helps outsiders to understand America’s gun debate. I have been asked by colleagues in Europe, once again but more insistently, about guns in America. After…
05 February 2018
Scott L. Montgomery explores how North Korea's drive to aquire nuclear weapons is bound up with its energy needs.  North Korea is a failed energy state. In 1948 when…
09 January 2018
New GP Columnist Scott Montgomery explores the controversial choice presented by frac technology. I‘m beginning this column with a provocative discussion of a controversial…