587 item(s) were returned.
According to a national survey of energy professionals jointly prepared by Sandia National Laboratories and OurEnergyPolicy.org, U.S. energy policy should simultaneously pursue energy supply security, economic outcomes, and minimized environmental impacts. Contemporary political discourse often poses energy policymaking as a binary decision—the economy versus the environment, for example. Public opinion polls frequently support this conception, posing energy policymaking options as a zero-sum game between two opposed goals. However, does this tension in the discourse accurately reflect how policy is made? Do energy professionals — people working on energy issues daily — view U.S. energy policy in this way? How might professional insights… [more]
View Insight
Energy innovation and American technological leadership has been a big point of focus in energy policy circles over the past decade. There exists a variety of strategies and plans to drive and support energy innovation, each informed by a combination of history, political and economic ideology, and circumstance, but none of them seem to have taken hold yet. Many advocate government investments in R&D, often differing on which technologies or research areas deserve funding, while others promote a more hands-off role that would see government lift the regulations that many believe stifle private sector investment and innovation. Some advocate pricing… [more]
View InsightBoth the Democratic and Republican parties have released their platforms, each offering a vision of the American energy landscape in the coming years. Both parties promote distinct visions of an “all-of-the-above” approach to energy. The end goal for both parties is U.S. energy independence, with the GOP’s vision seeming to rely primarily on the development of America’s fossil fuel resources and a business-friendly regulatory regime, while the Democrats’ platform promotes a “move towards a sustainable energy-independent future” that would allocate resources between fossil fuel and renewables development, alongside to a variety of “green” initiatives. GOP Democrats Fossil Fuels Supports “new, state-of-the-art coal-fired… [more]
View Insight
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Highway Transport Safety Administration (NHTSA) have released new rules for a corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standard that will increase fuel economy to the equivalent of 54.5 miles per gallon and reduce vehicle greenhouse gas emissions to 163 grams of carbon dioxide per mile by 2025. The EPA is establishing national GHG emissions standards under the Clean Air Act, and the NHTSA is establishing Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act. Both programs will give flexibility to manufacturers to achieve compliance, including the use of a credit… [more]
View Insight
Over the past month, as oil prices have climbed, rumors of a release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) have circulated. This week, the G7 released a statement indicating the group’s readiness “to call upon the International Energy Agency to take appropriate action to ensure that the market is fully and timely supplied.” Hurricane Isaac makes a release seem more likely, as it has suspended operations of Gulf refineries with a combined refining capacity of 1 million barrels of oil per day, according to the St. Louis Post. Dan Kish of the Institute for Energy Research said on Fox Business… [more]
View Insight
Last week, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney announced his energy platform, which emphasizes the goal of U.S. energy independence through increased offshore drilling, particularly in the mid-Atlantic, an “energy partnership” with Mexico and Canada, and through greater control over energy production on federal lands for states. “States are far better able to develop, adopt and enforce regulations based on their unique resources, geology and local concerns,” said Romney. Enacting these policies would lead to over $1 trillion in revenue for federal, state, and local governments, more than 3 million new jobs, and a resurgence in U.S. manufacturing, according to the… [more]
View Insight
As drought continues to affect much of the U.S., many observers are thinking critically about the water-energy nexus. A New York Times article points out the myriad ways in which water shortages can threaten energy, from low river levels reducing hydropower output, to cities banning the use of municipal water for hydraulic fracturing. Although we have yet to see water access limit our ability to produce energy, it could lead to higher energy prices, particularly for natural gas, which will increasingly require water recycling and freshwater transport from non-local sources. Biofuels will also increase in price, if crops fail and… [more]
View InsightMember
U.S. House of Representatives
Along with Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) and Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA), I recently introduced H.Res.762, with which we mean to express “the sense of the House of Representatives regarding community-based civil defense and power generation.” The Resolution is intended to “encourage community based civil defense preparations, including distributed generation of 20% of local electricity needs.” The U.S. electric grid is one of our nation’s most critical infrastructures—none of the other 17 critical infrastructures will function properly without it. America’s grid is vulnerable to widespread blackouts of extended duration from any and all of the following threats:… [more]
View Insight
In an August 5th op-ed, the New York Times’ Thomas Friedman urges America to “Get It Right On Gas.” While noting domestic natural gas development’s potential to address a host of energy policy issues – the trade imbalance and job creation, greenhouse gas emissions, and energy security – Friedman quotes Energy Innovation’s Hal Harvey in asking if natural gas offers “a transition to a clean energy future, or does it defer a clean energy future?” “A sustained [natural] gas glut could undermine new investments in wind, solar, nuclear and energy efficiency systems – which have zero emissions – and thus… [more]
View InsightCongressman Jim McDermott (D-WA) has introduced legislation that would put a price on CO2 emissions. Known as the Managed Carbon Price (MCP) Act, the bill is structured more as a cap-and-dividend program than cap-and-trade, and is intended to reduce emissions while also directing revenue towards deficit reduction and reimbursing consumers for costs. The bill would have a target of 80 percent CO2 reductions by 2050. “My bill would reduce carbon emissions, and it returns all the money to consumers and deficit reduction. Businesses want this kind of predictability, consumers need to be protected, and we need to step up and… [more]
View Insight