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   Core Beliefs

     The United States
     desperately needs
     an energy policy that
     focuses on clean,
     cheap energy


Electricity Is Energy Carrier of Choice
Opinion from Grist 2008
There are sound physical reasons why electricity is the best replacement for oil as our primary transportation energy. Why not biofuels, hydrogen, and coal-to-liquids? In addition to zero emissions at end use, electricity has benefits in efficiency and availability in almost all stages of its production, transmission, and consumption.

Electric motors are incredibly efficient at converting electricity to power. An electric motor of medium or larger size (90-95% efficient) requires about one-third the amount of energy to do the same work as an internal combustion engine (20-30% efficient). Electricity's weakness is that electrical energy storage is bulky and heavy in comparison to the portable liquid fuels to which it is often compared.

Crude Oil Production Dropped in 2007
BP Oil Company's Statistical Review of World Energy 2008
Global oil production fell for the first time in five years in 2007 as prices rose to records BP said in its annual Statistical Review of World Energy. Crude oil prices have doubled in the last year as demand from China and India jumped and global production stagnated. Lagging supply from regions including the North Sea and Mexico has lent support to the theory that world oil output has `'peaked''.

Deepwater:
Where the Energy Is
U.S. Dept. of Interior 2004
The Gulf of Mexico has been a major supplier of oil and gas to America for nearly half a century. With declining production from its near-shore shallow waters, energy companies have focused their attention on oil and gas resources in water depths of 1,000 feet and beyond. Their progress in developing these resources has made the Gulf of Mexico the focal point of deepwater oil and gas exploration and production in the world. The Department of the Interiors' Minerals Management Service estimates that the deep water regions of the Gulf of Mexico may contain 56 billion barrels, or enough to meet U.S. demand for 7 years at current rates.

Drilling in the deep water Gulf is not easy. The cost of developing a single deep water field can exceed $1 billion, with costs likely to increase as operations are conducted in even deeper waters. Compare this to the cost of a typical shallow Gulf development (100 feet of water, 10,000 foot wells) at $100 million, and you can appreciate the cost of addressing the challenges of deep water. With deep water production expected to almost double over the next decade, Gulf oil production will rise to 2.25 million barrels per day, or nearly 80% of the total Gulf production, by 2011.

 

 

 

  The United States Today...

The clock is ticking. We have no room for error. America is broke. Real wages are falling. Volatile energy prices whipsaw our economy. Global warming is real. We're dangerously dependent on foreign oil.

America must quickly implement a comprehensive, transformative energy plan. If we don't – or if we get it wrong – our children and grandchildren will likely lead lives of increasing hardship and desperation.

  Energy Goals for USA

  • Cheap, plentiful energy
  • Clean energy with low environmental impact
  • Reduce carbon emissions by 50%
  • Reduce reliance on OPEC by 50%
  • Global energy leadership
  • Significant progress in ten years

  Proposed Twenty-Year Energy Plan

  • Double the number of carbon-free nuclear power plants in ten years; double them again in following ten years to total of 400 nuclear power plants
  • Maximum geothermal generated electricity
  • Retire 2/3s of our 1,500 coal generation plants
  • New, smart grid to distribute electricity
  • Drill, drill, drill; set floor under domestic crude prices
  • Replace 50% of our transportation fleet with electric and natural gas vehicles; tax credits and inexpensive fuel
  • Innovation and energy efficiency
  • Set example for rest of world

Details

Nuclear Power to Save America?
Power to Save the World by G. Cravens 2007
"Nuclear power has its drawbacks, but the ratio of benefit to risk is the best I've seen," says Gwyneth Cravens in her book about nuclear power. Ms. Cravens, a former anti-nuke demonstrator, now says, "Nuclear power is cleaner, safer, and more efficient than fossil-fuel power."

"When I began my research eight years ago, I'd assumed that we had many choices in the way we made electricity. But we don't. Nuclear power is the only large-scale, environmentally-benign, time-tested technology currently available to provide clean electricity. Wind and solar power have a role to play, but since they’re diffuse and intermittent, they can't provide baseload, and they always require some form of backup – usually from burning fossil fuels, which have a huge impact on public health."

Matrix Overloaded: Clean Energy Depends on New, 'Smart' Grid
Wall Street Journal 2008
Renewable energy is only as effective as the infrastructure that moves it around: the electrical grid. Even at today's levels, renewable energy is straining an electrical grid already showing signs of fragility. In Texas, which has more installed wind-power capacity than any other state, wind turbines sometimes are ordered shut off because the state's electrical lines can't handle the surge of fresh juice.

The current electric grid has two basic shortcomings. It's not big enough to accommodate all the new electricity the nation is likely to need in coming decades,regardless of how that electricity is produced. And it's not flexible enough to handle the inconsistencies of renewable energy, which is less steady than the workhorses of coal and natural gas; the wind doesn't always blow, and the sun doesn't always shine. An updated electrical grid is also crucial to realizing a "green" car. Such a car will depend on an improved power network as much as today's cars depend on the ubiquity of gas stations. At its current size, the network could accommodate many new plug-in hybrid cars – but that would require making the grid smarter.

The vast network needs new controls that sense and communicate information about energy load and consumption to ensure, for example, that cars are recharged at night, when there's plenty of unused capacity available. The grid will become far more complex since so much will depend upon it. Many more varied sources of energy will feed power into it while many more electrical appliances will draw power from it.

 

 

Comment...
The United States needs clean, cheap energy, and plenty of it. The good news is that we can do it.

This site, Energy Plan USA, offers a comprehensive overview of the energy issues facing America. We're also clear about solutions. We are self-funded and in nobody's pocket.

Few people – too few policy makers – understand how all the energy pieces fit together. That's why I launched Energy Plan USA. If you read our articles you'll have a better understanding of energy issues than 99% of America. To learn even more, click-through to the lengthier source material or watch the videos.

Any comprehensive U.S. energy policy must begin here:

  • Foreign oil has a stranglehold on the United States.
  • Global warming is real and possibly exacerbated by carbon emissions.

Unless the United States addresses these issues, our future looks bleak. The American way of life may disappear in our lifetime. ...on our watch.

Listen up, America, there is a cure. And it's easy to swallow:

  • More domestic oil and natural gas;
  • More carbon-free nuclear and geothermal electricity; and,
  • Focused effort on energy efficiency and electric cars.

These can lay the foundation for a new energy infrastructure. In twenty years we can reduce our dependence on foreign oil from a stanglehold to a handshake. Because nuclear and geothermal electricity generation are both carbon-free we can retire coal generation plants and drastically reduce carbon emissions and possibly turn the corner on global warming.

There is frosting on the cake. We can sell our know-how to the rest of the world and help solve their energy problems. Because the reality is, the USA cannot hope to check global warming without rest of the world following a similar path.

Yes, I sounds pollyannaish. But with sound leadership – not bickering – the United States can lead the way to plentiful energy. ...address global warming. ...and turn a profit. It's not a zero sum game.

Global Warming
Before the U.S. can establish a comprehensive energy policy, however, the issue of global waming needs to be addressed. The problem is that climate science is extremely complicated, yet still in its infancy with an unproven track record,.

Global warming has become such a politically charged issue that the line between facts, guesses and propaganda becomes less clear by the day. Frankly, I blame my own party, the Democrats. They've turned the science of global warming into religious zealotry where faith trumps facts. Democrats also promote clean, expensive energy, whereas in my opinion, the country needs clean, cheap energy.

Unfortunately, the Republicans are too weak to counter the wackiness of the Democrats. And lobbyists are paid to keep us all confused.

The Center for Public Integrity reports there are 880 groups registered to influence U.S. climate change policy link. Their fingerprints appear all over the Cap and Trade Bill now before Congress. This is just one of the reasons I'm against cap and trade.

The stakes are huge. If we respond to global warming incorrectly with a half-baked energy policy, our children and grandchildren will likely lead lives of increasing hardship and desperation.

                      — Robert Moen, Founder
                          rmoen@energyplanUSA.com