The next Declaration of Independence – a declaration to free this country of oil dependency. This is not only necessary but imperative. The reasons are many; pick your favorite or the entire list.
1. Relief from foreign entanglements (meaning military engagements to protect oil supplies).
2. Global warming.
3. Balance of payments, the hemorrhaging of US dollars for foreign oil.
4. Environmental cleanup.
5. Air quality.
6. Relief from respiratory ailments.
7. Reduced risk of environmental accidents (oil spills).
8. Diversifying energy sources promoting competition and breaking energy monopolies.
9. Saving oil for higher uses than burning and dealing with “Peak Oil.”
The argument for oil independence seems so compelling that it is shocking that every leader and politician is not harping on the issue with gusto. Imagine a world where all of our energy comes from clean, renewable sources. These include energy from the sun, wind, hydro, geothermal, tidal, wave action, ocean-thermal, cellulosic diesel, algae diesel and microbial hydrogen. Our energy money stays at home. Energy is non-polluting, diversified and hopefully locally produced and controlled.
We would no longer be captive of fluctuating markets. The sun energy is predictable and consistent, the wind is dependable, water flows continually as do the tides, waves, ocean thermal and geothermal. Imagine being able to make a contract for electrical power for years in the future, a luxury impossible with fluctuating oil and gas prices.
We have a long way to go. Currently just 6 percent of our energy comes from renewable sources. To become energy independent we, as a nation, need a multi-pronged campaign. The first and easiest pillar in the campaign is conservation, making a more efficient use of the energy we use. This effort must be the responsibility of all, the energy provider, the government and the consumer.
Congress recently passed and the President signed into law the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. The bill is far from the complete answer but it is a step in the right direction. Key issues in the bill include raising gasoline mileage for vehicles to 35 miles per gallon, by 2020 (up from 24 mpg), requiring producers to use at least 36 billion gallons of bio-fuel by 2022, requiring federal buildings to use “Energy Star” products, and phasing out incandescent lighting.
Raising the gasoline mileage standard to 35 mpg could save 1.1 million gallons per day or half the oil we now get from the Persian Gulf. Automobile companies claim this will be very difficult to attain. Many experts think otherwise. Europe today averages 45 mpg and Japan does better than that.
Increasing the ethanol use to 36 billion gallons is also a big help. Although corn currently is the primary source of ethanol this bill calls for 21 billion of the 36 billion to come from sources other than corn. This presumably would come from cellulosic ethanol produced from corn waste, wood scraps, switch grass and other such material. The technology for economically producing cellulosic ethanol has yet to be perfected. This will be a challenge.
Phasing out the incandescent light may seem trivial but the savings can be staggering. The new rules are expected to save consumers $40 billion in energy and other costs from 2012 to 2030, avoid construction of 14 coal-fired power plants, and cut global warming emissions by at least 51 million tons of carbon annually, according to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. The compact fluorescent bulb uses less than a third of the energy of incandescent ones, and lasts ten times longer. Light-emitting diode (LED) lights do even better.
To borrow from Winston Churchill “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” The world is waking up to the need to conserve energy. As is often quoted, “the least expensive kilowatt is the one not used.” Another buzz word is Negawatts bantered around by environmentalists. Whatever works lets go for it.
Conservation coupled with an aggressive development of alternative energy production are strong moves to reduce the uses of oil. Who will be the first leader to write the “Next” Declaration of Independence, independence from oil?
Jack Bash is a resident of Cornish and the executive director of the Hydrogen Energy Center in Maine. He has recently retired from the Graduate School of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island where he served as Marine Superintendent and Science Officer. He can be reached at bash@hydrogenenergycenter.org
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