30 years ago, “The Energy Blues” debuted for the first time on the popular Saturday morning cartoon show “Schoolhouse Rock!” to teach children about energy and conservation. But ever since then, the American people have been the ones singing the energy blues as our government’s lack of a clear and sensible energy policy has left us totally dependent on foreign countries for the majority of our fuel.
Our leaders in Washington like to talk about achieving energy independence, but to make it a reality we need a new energy policy designed to meet the growing needs of 21st century America by creating both short-term and long-term solutions that will make energy costs affordable now. At the same time, we must promote the research, development and implementation of alternative sources of energy for the future.
Right now America needs oil, and we need it for more than just fueling our cars and heating our homes. We need it to manufacture pillows, aspirin, glasses, clothes, cosmetics, pens, toothbrushes, upholstery and many other things that have become commonplace in American life. In fact, oil is used to produce so many things that the average American likely spends every second of every day using some type of petroleum-based product.
Our entire civilization as we know it today is built on oil, and any major disruption of the current supply of oil would trigger a severe worldwide recession. Therefore, for the short term, our main priority must be to keep as much oil flowing as possible to keep energy prices down and our economy strong.
To keep oil flowing, we should drill offshore, in Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, and everywhere else it is economically feasible, but that’s just the first step. We should also invest in the extraordinary potential of oil shale in the Rocky Mountains, which could yield 1.8 trillion barrels of oil and, most importantly, we should invest in clean coal.
America has coal. Lots of coal. 27 percent of the world’s proven coal reserves (275 billion short tons) are located in this country and now is the time to use them.
Through the process of coal liquefaction, we can use abundant American coal and convert it into synthetic fuel, which can be substituted in place of traditional oil and sold at a much cheaper price. Also, it can be used to fuel American automobiles without any costly changes having to be made to cars or gas stations.
However, we cannot expect American coal and oil reserves to be our ultimate solution to the energy crisis we face, because they will not last forever. It’s true, we can’t drill and mine our way out of danger but what we can do is use our resources to buy precious time while we develop new sources of energy to power America’s future.
The road to long-term energy independence begins with nuclear power. Nuclear power is a clean, safe, efficient and proven source of energy that has greatly benefited France in its pursuit of energy independence. It should be America’s goal to follow the French example and make nuclear energy our leading source of electricity by 2030.
Solar and wind energy should also be further researched and developed to support nuclear energy in the generation of electricity. Currently, solar and wind are both unreliable and inefficient, but over time they will both develop into primary sources of electric power which, together with nuclear power, will grow to fully replace coal altogether.
To replace gasoline-powered automobiles, American automakers should build more automobiles that use alternatives like plug-in electric hybrids, hydrogen fuel cells and plentiful American natural gas.
If left unresolved, our civilization’s dependence on foreign oil will constitute the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind. It would be foolish to take any source of energy off the table because with demand expected to increase in the future, America needs all it can produce.
Congress must act now to implement an “All of the Above” energy plan that uses all of our nation’s resources towards the goal of long-term energy security and independence that frees America from the stranglehold of foreign oil. However, if partisan politics continues to blind our leaders to the dangerous reality we face — as it has in the past — then we will continue to sing the energy blues for years to come.
TONY SPADACCIA is a sophomore political science and business management major.
