Your policies can begin to eliminate this uncertainty. However, because the start-up costs are high, it has been hard to know whether alternatives can compete with oil. We also can eliminate the carbon footprint further by switching to cellulosic bio-fuels (such as ethanol made from products other than corn).Īs you proposed in the campaign, switching our transportation fleet to renewable liquid fuels and linking our cars to the electricity grid transfers energy costs to more reliable and predictably priced sources. As you laid out in the campaign, the nation can switch half of the auto fleet to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles by 2025, cutting oil consumption by one-third and carbon emissions dramatically. Renewable energy and conservation: As you proposed in the campaign, switching our transportation fleet to renewable liquid fuels and linking our cars to the electricity grid transfers energy costs to more reliable and predictably priced sources.For at least the next 20 years the vast proportion of our transportation fleet will remain dependent on petroleum-based fuels. And broader investment in green infrastructure should support this goal. Reliance on a single commodity for 70 percent of our transportation remains an economic and geopolitical risk that will only get worse when economic growth resumes. We recommend that you argue that we cannot depend on price declines or be held hostage to price volatility. Members of Congress will pressure you to keep energy prices low and will question whether we can afford investments in new technologies at a time of economic belt-tightening. Indeed, the recent energy price roller-coaster has dramatically shifted the terrain of policy debates. Short-term energy markets are impossible to predict or control. Medium-term: Slash Oil Dependence and “Green” our Infrastructure in a Decade. Your support for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050-and for a cap-and-trade system-set the stage for a new approach to climate change and energy security. To accomplish all of this, you will need to invest significant political capital, but this surely is a battle worth fighting. Second, over time, it will expand on your proposals to slash greenhouse gas emissions, by also launching a global diplomatic energy security campaign and revamping our domestic energy policy institutions.First, in the medium term, the legislation will expand on your pledges to stimulate investment in alternative energy sources and energy infrastructure, by also emphasizing energy-efficient transportation systems, particularly through a federal-state partnership.This approach would address two separate but complementary challenges: Your inaugural address can lay out this agenda, and introduce the “Energy Security and Climate Protection Act of 2009” to expand on your campaign proposals in low-cost, high-impact ways. Successfully addressing both issues simultaneously will require determination, bipartisan leadership and political courage.ĭespite competing priorities, we recommend that energy be a cornerstone of your first term, and that you push for domestic energy legislation before moving forward aggressively with global diplomacy. Building a secure energy future-including heading off catastrophic climate change-was a top campaign priority, second only to meeting the ongoing global economic crisis.
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