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It seems difficult to find areas of consensus on energy policy these days. For example, energy efficiency once received significant bipartisan support. That’s no longer the case. Most agree that energy security is a worthwhile goal. However, each Congress, a vast number of pathways toward improved energy security are advocated – tighter fuel standards, expanded domestic oil production, clean energy standards, more nuclear, less nuclear, electric vehicles, natural gas vehicles, flex fuel vehicles, etc. – and very few, if any, achieve lasting, multi-stakeholder, bipartisan support. In his recent book, “Power Plays: Energy Options in the Age of Peak Oil,” energy… [more]
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Heat waves and violent storms recently knocked out power to millions of Americans from the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic, and for many the power was slow to come back on. These weather-related power outages highlight one of the U.S. power grid’s key areas of vulnerability – others include susceptibility to conventional or cyber attack, and man-made or solar electromagnetic pulses – and the heat-related deaths and lack of economic productivity due to the outages show just how dependent on the grid we are. Many suggest that “smart grid” technologies would enable electric operators to diagnose failures and reroute power more efficiently,… [more]
View InsightCoal is one of America’s most abundant and affordable energy sources, and has served for decades as the country’s primary base load electric fuel. Coal comes with significant environmental trade-offs, including local air and water pollution, deforestation, and mountaintop removal from mining process, and greenhouse gas and toxic particulate emissions from burning it to generate electricity. Given plentiful U.S. supplies of low-cost coal, there is clear economic and energy security rationale for continuing to use coal, and government and industry have worked for years to promote and demonstrate “clean coal” technologies. It is hoped that these technologies will capture CO2… [more]
View InsightRecent increases in U.S. natural gas and oil production – increases dramatic enough to drive speculation about and calls for U.S. exports of these resources – have brought the prospect of an energy self-sufficient U.S. into sight, while geopolitical and market volatility around the globe continue to make energy independence an attractive policy goal. However, the question remains: Would U.S. energy independence necessarily mean U.S. energy security? According to a report from Securing America’s Future Energy, The New American Oil Boom: Implications for Energy Security, “energy security,” defined as our economy’s ability to withstand shocks to energy supply, is too… [more]
View InsightJames Lovelock, 92, a scientist best known for his Gaia theory and dire projections about the impacts of global climate change, recently described his past position on climate change as being “alarmist”. He continues to advocate greenhouse gas reductions, but has backed away from stronger predictions and begun to advocate for the United Kingdom to make great use of natural gas in its energy mix. Other prominent thinkers, including physicist Richard Muller and economist Bjorn Lomborg, have recently shifted their claims about climate change. Both Muller and Lomborg have adopted positions accepting the science behind climate change and recommending action. What is the trajectory of climate change discourse?… [more]
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U.S. coal exports from terminals in the Pacific Northwest and Gulf of Mexico could aid coal producers, who are keen to tap into international demand after a drop-off in domestic coal use. However, local officials and environmental groups have been resistant to plans to build the necessary infrastructure, like ports and rail, in the region. The Seattle City Council, for example, voted down plans for an export terminal that would have shipped coal from Wyoming and Montana’s Powder Basin to markets in Asia. Coal producers and exporters say the projects will deliver local and national economic benefits, including jobs and… [more]
View InsightThe United Nation’s Rio +20 meeting wrapped last week, resulting in several hundred voluntary commitments from member countries and an ambitious vision for worldwide ‘sustainable development’ in the form of a declaration titled “The Future We Want.” Rio +20 and “The Future We Want” follow the UN’s recently-launched “Sustainable Energy for All” initiative, which aims to provide universal access to modern energy services, double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency, and double the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix by 2030. The importance of energy – specifically as a tool for poverty alleviation and resource/ecosystem conservation –… [more]
View InsightA House vote on H.R. 4480, the Strategic Energy Production Act of 2012, also being cited as the Domestic Energy and Jobs Act, has brought a veto threat from the White House and the introduction of 27 amendments from Representatives. The Congressional Research Service reports that the bill would direct the Secretary of Energy to develop a plan to increase the percentage of federal lands leased for oil and gas exploration, development, and production, and would require that additional federal land be put under production if the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is tapped. The bill also calls for a streamlining of the drill permitting… [more]
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Rio+20, the global environmental conference organized by the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), will bring together national officials, civil society, and the private sector. They’ll discuss a wide range of environmental issues, focusing largely on environmental sustainability and poverty during the three day conference, which starts today. Observers expect clean energy, fossil fuel subsidies, and “energy poverty” to feature prominently in discussions on energy, which was identified by the UNCSD as one of seven “priority areas” of the summit. Although Obama will not take part, Secretary Clinton, along with EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and Special Envoy for Climate… [more]
View InsightOn Thursday, June 14th the bipartisan House Oil & National Security Caucus — co-chaired by Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) and Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) — and OurEnergyPolicy.org hosted a fantastic panel discussion called Gas Prices & National Security. The panelists included former Director of Central Intelligence R. James Woolsey, American Enterprise Institute scholar Kenneth P. Green, and Bloomberg Government energy analyst Rob Barnett. What do you make of the panelists arguments? What is the relationship between gasoline prices and national security? Are national security concerns sufficient grounds to rewire America’s liquid fuels infrastructure?
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