Obama’s Plan to Reduce Foreign Oil Dependence
As Americans spend $41 million in foreign oil an hour and are left broke at the pump, what plan does Obama have to solve this problem?
Oil is destined to be a heated issue in this upcoming presidential election and Barack Obama’s opposition to the gas tax “holiday” has already been a hot topic. Obama has made it clear that national energy policy needs to be taken in a new direction.
“We send a billion dollars to foreign nations every single day and we are melting the polar ice caps in the bargain,” said Obama. “That has to change.”
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Here are some of the key elements of Obama’s energy plan:
Fuel Economy Standards
Doubling fuel economy standards within the next 18 years is a priority to Obama. Research in engines and advanced lightweight materials will help meet this goal. He also wants to assist auto makers in increasing fuel economy standards through loan guarantees and tax credits for domestic auto manufacturers.
“We are going to raise fuel efficiency standards on cars because that is the only way that we can actually lower gas prices over the long-term and I know you need that,” said Obama.
Next Generation Biofuels
Obama’s goal is to have two billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol in use by 2013. He plans to use tax incentives, government contracts and cash prizes to help this industry mature and specifically wants to encourage farmer-owned refineries. He would like renewable fuel standards to increase, such that 60 billion gallons of advanced biofuels are in the fuel supply by 2030.
A National Low Carbon Fuel Standard is a mechanism that Obama plans to use that requires fuel suppliers to decrease carbon emissions from fuels by 10% by 2020 and he specifically wants to encourage non-petroleum fuels to reach this target.
“The only way we are going to seriously reduce the price of gas is if we actually start investing in alternative fuels and we raise fuel standards on cars,” said Obama.
Renewable Energy
By 2025, Obama would like 25% of U.S. electricity to be generated from clean, renewable sources including wind, solar and geothermal with a Renewable Portfolio Standard. Obama calls for $150 billion to be invested over 10 years in clean energy and infrastructure to support it. Investment in a national digital electric grid would allow greater amounts of renewable energy to be utilized and make plug-in hybrids more environmentally sound.
“For the sake of our security, our economy, our jobs and our planet, the age of oil must end in our time,” said Obama.
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Image credit: Radiospike Photography at Flickr under a Creative Commons license
Lower Image Credit: Compliments of Solar Service Inc.
yeah, because nothing can go wrong with using FOOD as fuel. NOTHING, im sure the laws of supply and demand wont cause food prices to sky rocket while millions starve to death. great plan there.
as for fuel efficient cars, 20 years?!?! only 30%+ of the worlds totoal fuel supplies will be gone by then, and we will have already hit the fuel peak 10-15 years before that, so thats like saying ‘watter the plant after it dies’.
and the latter, well thats also a bit too little too late. america and the world needs something a bit more progressive than that trite rhetoric that has been passed around by every new candidate and their grandmas.
Simple, buy oil from Venezuela and quit worrying about the damn Saudi’s
Two very simple paths to reducing overall fuel consumption:
1) Reduce the number of SUVs on the road
2) Reduce the number or 6-cylinder and 8-cylinder cars on the road.
For the first, make all vehicles of that classification require a truck driver’s license. That way, those few who have a genuine need for them will still be able to use them, while those who *don’t* need them but still insist on driving them will be better trained in how to handle them (reversing cameras my ass!).
For the second, just outlaw the damn things - there’s no excuse for them.
More rhetoric. No nuclear power rollout, no space based power. Those are the only real large quantity power sources that we have access to TODAY. Next gen biofuels are great, but we don’t have the technology.
Is there any way we can just sort of sneak him in before Bush’s term is over?
this is far too little and will take way too long we need to drastically change our need for foreign oil and to do this we should start investing immediately. With tax incentives as well as high required renewable energy amounts per state.
…to be generated from clean, renewable sources including wind, solar and geothermal…
Actually, none of those are “renewable” sources. And the last — geothermal — it the most unreliable of them all. One good earthquake and the source dries up.
Light on policy eh?
THIS IS NOT THE ‘DON’T BUY’ GAS FOR ONE DAY, BUT IT WILL SHOW YOU HOW WE CAN GET GAS BACK DOWN TO $1.30 PER GALLON.
This was sent by a retired Coca Cola executive. It came from one of his engineer buddies who retired from Halliburton. If you are tired of the gas prices going up AND they will continue t o rise this summer, take time to read this please.
Phillip Hollsworth offered this good idea.
This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the ‘don’t buy gas on a certain day’ campaign that was going around last April or May!
It’s worth your consideration. Join the resistance!!!!
I hear we are going to hit close to $ 4.00 a gallon by summer and it might go higher!! Want gasoline prices to come down?
We need to take some intelligent, united action. The oil companies just laughed at that b ecause they knew we wouldn’t continue to ‘hurt’ ourselves by refusing to buy gas.
It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them.
BUT, whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can Really work. Please read on and join with us!
By now you’re probably thinking gasoline priced at about $2.00 is super cheap. Me too! It is currently $ 3.34 for regular unleaded in my town.
Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a gallon of gas is CHEAP at $1.50 - $1.75, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace…not sellers.
With the price of gasoline going up more each day, we consumers need to take action.
The only way we are going to see the price of gas come down is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing their gas! And, we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves.
How? Since we all rely on our cars, we can’t just stop buying gas.
But we CAN have an impact on gas prices if we all act together to force a price war.
Here’s the idea: For the rest of this year, DON’T purchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL.
If they are not selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit.
But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Exxon and Mobil gas buyers. It’s really simple to do! Now, don’t wimp out on me at this point…keep reading and I’ll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!!
I am sending this note to 30 people. If each of us send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300) .. and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000)…and so on, by the time the message r eaches the sixth group of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers.
If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted!
If it goes one level further, you guessed it….. THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!
Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. That’s all!
(If you don’t understand how we can reach 300 million and all you have to do is send this to 10 people…. Well, let’s face it, you just aren’t a mathematician. But I am.so trust me on this one.
How long would all that take? If each of us sends this e-mail out to ten more people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the next 8 days!!!
I’ll bet you didn’t think you and I had that much potential, did you !
Acting together we can make a difference.
If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on. I suggest that we not buy from EXXON/MOBIL UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $2.00 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY WORK.
Keep it going
Ethanol is not a good alternative. We are talking about adding more and more alcohol to fuel. Brazil tried alcohol based fuels that and ended up with a country with destroyed engines. Alcohol is the solution to a problem that makes a bigger problem. Instead of alcohol we should be running something like acetone which not only promotes a complete combustion but also:
Increases mileage by 15-30%
Reduces emissions by HALF or MORE
Due to a complete burn, fuel isn’t being pushed past the piston rings and dirtying the oil
Only requires a mere 2-3ounces per 10 gallons of fuel (Gas and Diesel)
CHEAP!
Don’t be dumb America. We keep rushing to conclusions and start grabbing for the first alternative we find. Farking morons.
http://www.pureenergysystems.com/news/2005/03/17/6900069_Acetone/