Energy and Federal Policy

I usually do not like to mix politics and engineering. However energy is the intersection of my interests and the public in interest.

Hence todays post about politics. “the country has no explicit national energy policy and no consensus on direction, an issue that the next president and next Congress are unlikely to deal with effectively” said Jerry Yudelson, architect and author/ top dude at USGBC Surviving + Thriving: Surfing the Green Wave During a Recession

Hiis comment regarding the energy policy made me curious. We already know that President Bush has never really had much interest in energy policy besides supporting “big oil”. He stonewalled the issue for almost all of his time in office. His opinion about global warming was that “the science is not in on it yet”. He meant to say “Its unimportant”.

The federal government has pretty much been gridlocked since 2006. They have no ability to pass any real policy against the President’s wishes. Little or no direction at the top has led to poorly executed piecemeal measures like giving tax incentives to oil and gas companies to produce more, using food (corn, etc) to make fuels, etc. Nothing that seriously addressed the long term problem of peaking oil.

A search on Google for the presidential candidates energy proposals gave this result: FACTBOX – U.S. presidential candidates on energy issues dated August 13, 2008.

Unfortunately, it looks like the difference between the candidates is easily lost in the myriad of possible government actions, so choosing the best candidate is more difficult, but here goes.

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Obama wants a tax credits for “advanced” vehicles, one million plug-in hybrid cars on the road by 2015, boost the Renewable Fuel Standard to at least 60 billion gallons of advanced biofuels like cellulosic ethanol by 2030; build out ethanol distribution infrastructure, mandate that all new vehicles be “flexfuel” by end of his first term, produce 2 billion gallons of “cellulosic” ethanol from non-corn sources like switchgrass by 2013.

McCain favors ethanol incentives after opposing them in the past. He generally opposes subsidies and tariffs that distort marketplace; supports a $5,000 tax credit for purchasing zero carbon emission cars; other cars will receive tax credits on a graduated scale with lower carbon emission cars receiving higher tax credits; supports shifting to “flexfuel” vehicles.

GLOBAL WARMING
Obama would cut carbon dioxide emissions to 80 percent of 1990 levels by 2050; reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

McCain supports a cap-and-trade CO2 approach. He sponsored a bill in 2007 to cut emissions by 30 percent by 2050.

FOSSILS
McCain wants U.S. to be independent from foreign oil by 2025. Obama would reduce overall oil consumption by at least 35 per cent by 2030, to offset imports …

ENERGY RESEARCH
Obama wants to invest $150 billion over 10 years on low-carbon energy, double R&D spending on biomass, solar and wind resources; invest in low-emissions coal plants.

McCain proposed a … prize to the auto company that develops a car battery that will help America become independent from oil. He want to commit $2 billion annually to advancing clean-coal technology.

…Obama wants … U.S. utilities to get 25 percent of their electricity from renewable sources like wind and solar by 2025…

McCain wants to increase investment to upgrade the national grid; he wants …electric cars on a mass scale.