Energy Blog

All the candidates’ representatives talked about their policies on the issue of energy including American independence from foreign oil, improving transportation technology, cleaner alternative fuels, and energy efficiencies.  Funding of these policies were only brushed upon during our mock press conference.  No in-depth information was given by any of the representatives on how the federal government will be able to fund their respective ideas and policies.  Even after the financial debacle, it seems that the federal government still knows how to spend money, and a clear example of their spendthrift personality is the federal governments ‘double-edged sword’ bailout plan of $700 billon to buy up troubled mortgage investments previously held by fallen insurance giants and banks such as American International Group (AIG).

After all this where will the government leech from to fund its energy policies?  Should I remind you about our national debt?  According to the national debt counter, United States’ deficit is a fourteen digit figure, over $10 trillion. According to Associated Press, The $700 billion government bailout could send the national debt to more than $11 trillion.

Now I ask all the representatives, after hearing this how will their candidates fund their energy policies without drastically increasing the national debt.  Got Funds?

It seems that our class is at the forefront of what is going on in politics. Of course we knew this when we had Robin introduce us to the class, but after seeing both the VP debate a few weeks ago and the second Presidential Debate today on Youtube, for the first time in my life I feel that a class I am taking has relevance in my life. I am not saying I will not use my trusty math or science skills, but after researching for the energy policy debate I feel like I know things that are going on now, and how these plans will affect the future.

One interesting note I want to make is that while watching the second Presidential debate, I noticed that Presidential candidates were actually serious about energy (as opposed to the Bush administration that did practically nothing for the environment - thanks old pal). When asked on how we could help solve the financial crisis (which is for a whole other blog) Obama stated one of his first solutions will be to stop spending so much money on oil and giving it to countries while we can use it here. He constantly stressed renewable energy and even mentioned spending and investing money on energy (which could of been risky since this might be interpreted as deficit spending). McCain did mention renewable energy, but like Stephen and Jacky told the class, he was very vocal in his pro-drilling approach. I felt while the candidates were talking about their policy that they were both clear and very similar to what we talked about in class. Everyone in class did awesome researching!

On another note, sorry to rant, I have to mention Sara Palin. Thank you Mary for trying to answer questions about energy that Palin herself was not able to answer. In the VP debate she did claim to be the expert on energy, but all she really had to offer, like Mary and the reporters pointed out, was drilling. What do you think her motive for destroying wildlife in her own state to get oil that could be only of a fraction of what Americans consume? I would guess that her motive is money and all the jobs it would create in her hometown of Alaska… It seems that Obama and Badin have a more focused energy plan on getting renewable energy out there, while McCain just wants to harvest our resources.

I feel that energy will be a very important part of the election, and I was glad I could actually follow along with these debates after doing my research.

I found this great article on New York Times Science Section discussing Presidential Candidates position on science issues.
Link: Presidential Candidates Position on Science Issues

And this picture was just for fun … (nothing to do with the above link)

The American Physical Society (APS) has launched a major report to “identify America’s most effective energy saving strategies”:

The report Energy Future: Think Efficiency differs from other energy efficiency reports in its emphasis on scientific and technological options and analysis. Based on emerging technologies, this report targets which research and development gives America the best return for its dollars.

The Energy Future: Think Efficiency examines and answers what works now, what can work soon, and what is feasible for the future.

• Go to report homepage
• Download entire report as PDF
• Download Executive Summary PDF