Opinion: Bush's energy policy misses mark
By Brad Bradshaw
President Bush’s energy policy – as laid out in his State of the Union speech on January 23 – fails to address the threats to our energy security, and the environmental problems caused by our energy consumption. It also fails to recognize the tremendous economic opportunities created by providing the world with new energy solutions. The country deserves better.
Our dependence on foreign countries’ resources imperils our energy security and economic vitality, a threat that will worsen as individuals around the world seek higher standards of living. Experts predict that global petroleum production will peak just as the world’s developing countries scramble for more. China, for instance, now has the same number of cars as the United States in 1911. By 2020, that number will grow five-fold, creating the demand for 7 million additional barrels of oil per day. The world strains currently to supply 84 million.
The United States has only five percent of the world’s population, yet consumes 25 percent of its petroleum. This insatiable appetite for energy – and the resulting pollution caused by it – poses grave threats to the environment. Bush’s energy policy fails to address this fact. Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are 27 percent above than the highest level recorded in the last 650,000 years. As these levels climb, surface and ocean temperatures and sea levels rise, and create severe weather patterns and disruptive water cycles.
Each year, Massachusetts spends $23 billion to import energy, and throws 123 million tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Every mile you drive emits a pound of carbon dioxide, producing an average of six tons per car, each year. Adding in other sources, each Bay Stater generates 19 tons of carbon dioxide per year – enough to fill a 13-foot balloon every day.
We need to create effective solutions to advance energy efficiency and productivity, accelerate the development of renewable energy, reduce power plant emissions, and make our skills, capabilities and advanced technologies available around the world. To do so, we should:
• Significantly increase the amount of public and private capital available for investment in companies and research laboratories developing advanced energy solutions;
• Implement the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative as soon as possible, investing the proceeds from auctioning carbon credits into energy efficiency and renewable energy projects;
• Encourage accelerated adoption of combined heat and power systems, geothermal energy systems and CHP fuel cells for consumers and businesses through tax and direct incentives;
• Accelerate emissions mitigation including installing comprehensive emissions controls on our coal power plants; and
• Diversify our transportation fuels and vehicles by increasing the use of bio-fuels (ethanol and biodiesel), natural gas-fueled vehicles, hydrogen and fuel-cell vehicles, electric and plug in hybrids and high mileage hybrid vehicles.
Let’s hope that the new energy revolution, currently under way in our universities, laboratories and entrepreneurial ventures, leads Massachusetts to a more secure, economically robust and cleaner future.
Brad Bradshaw is a Massachusetts-based energy consultant, and president of the Massachusetts Hydrogen Coalition.
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