The new year finds many of us engaged in the same sort of activities, those that are the result of an optimism that seems to spring out on its own every January 1st. An “out with the old, in with the new” approach to the new year ahead. From diets to uncluttering the house to getting control of our financial affairs, a new year is a time when it’s surprisingly easy to at least start to take constructive steps toward a positive goal.
But, as someone who has had energy policy at the front and center for most of her professional life, the new year invariably also finds me pondering Benjamin Franklin’s observation that, “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
So it is with U.S. energy policy. The goal of reducing our dependence on foreign oil is hardly new. What is new, to some extent, is the fact that many of those most vocal about that goal now either ignored it or were silent on the issue when domestic energy producers warned about the growing danger and presented proposals fact that the price rise came on the heels of passage of an energy bill touted as an answer to our dependence on foreign oil. Cutting such dependence would drive down oil prices. Energy traders vote with their checkbooks, and judging from oil prices since the energy bill was signed by President Bush, the vote has been one of “no confidence.”
It’s no wonder there is no confidence—this year we will borrow about $320 billion dollars to import oil. Adding debt at this rate affects the strength and stability of the dollar. At some point, our creditors will start charging higher interest rates. But of even greater concern to me are the stories day after day of our largest financial institutions in America being bought up by OPEC nations and investors using our own dollars we have eagerly given them for their oil.
Are there ways we can reduce our dependence on foreign oil, fight global climate change, and build a bridge that can serve as a path to a bright energy future? Certainly, and one of those ways is clean-burning, American, natural gas. It is a natural partner with wind and solar power for peaking. At a time when gasoline prices are above $3 a gallon, natural gas per gallon equivalent for your Honda Civic GX is around $1 a gallon less (that’s the national average, it is 64 cents a gallon equivalent in Utah). And for heating the home, there is a reason new home-owners are switching to natural gas—it is 68 percent cheaper than heating oil. In fact, since 1997, the number of Northeastern households heated with natural gas has grown from 46% to an estimated 55% today.
But the current approach of our policymakers seems to ignore a solution staring them in the face. They continue on a path “Back to the Future,” using old approaches to try and solve energy problems that are nothing new and expecting a different result. In our next few columns we will explore some real-world solutions to a scalable, affordable energy future available now. And we will explore what all those “agents of change” running for President are saying the solution should be. Stay tuned.