Should energy independence be a high priority in the US?

Yes

10 of 34

by Robert Frank

Write now Print Invite a writer™ Add to Favorites RSS Feed Contact this writer

Year 2028

I wake up in the morning in sunny Manhattan surprised that I could sleep so late. The noise from the cars a distant memory. Today, traffic moves via electric vehicles whose engines are basically silent. Pollution in the city has been all but eliminated. New York receives far more sunlight than in the days of the gas guzzler. Without the fumes from internal combustion engines, the primary cause of smog in the city, Manhattan is now a clean place to live.

It all started in 1905, when an engineer named H. Piper filed a patent for a Hybrid design to the US patent department. He was not trying to save gasoline but rather raise the acceleration of cars from zero to 25 miles an hour in less than 10 seconds. This would be approximately 3 times faster than cars of its day. Many hybrids were produced by Ford Motor Cars in the early 1900's, however, they were replaced by the self-starting gas engine.

One Hundred years later, in 1997 Toyota introduced the Prius a hybrid electric car which started a revolution. The Prius averaged approximately 50 mpg relying on a electric engine to power it at low speeds and it's emissions classified the car as a super ultra low emission vehicle. The vehicle was well received by American consumers and there were waiting lists of 6 months or longer in its first years of production.

Ten years later at the Detroit Auto Show the excitement concerning the electric engine kicked into high gear. General Motors displayed a prototype of a sexy sport sedan called the Chevy Volt. This car was a plug in electric car with a backup gasoline motor to recharge the electric engine when needed. The Volt would travel 40 miles before using an ounce of gasoline. Thereafter it could travel 640 miles at 50 mpg. The Volt was launched in 2010 and was greeted by a 2 year waiting list. Americans were fed up with over $4.00 gasoline and the outcry could be heard all the way in the oil rich states in the Middle East. Many people bought the Volt to save money, while others, enjoyed the freedom of being unhooked from the filling stations, however, the big change came from the young. Through a creative add campaign it became cool to drive an electric car. In the 1980's people protested against the wearing of fur coats. Animal activists would throw paint on women wearing mink. In the second decade of the 21st century Americans rejected the recreational SUV. People would throw eggs at SUV's being driven by a single occupant. America grew up to the reality that our nation was being held hostage economically by our most bitter enemies, the oil cartel. Pollution was shortening our lives and global warming was threatening the very existence of our planet.

Al Gore was drafted as our President in 2012 by an American people who demanded a change in our energy policy. He promptly went to work on solving the energy crisis. He spurred the development of electric vehicles via a liberal rebate program. The accumulation of millions of electric vehicles placed a tremendous strain on our electrical grid. To solve that problem, Gore placed tens of thousands of windmills in the desert by providing tax incentives to the utility companies. Americans, found beauty in the natural movement of the windmills working in harmony with nature producing clean electricity. Many people placed windmills in their back yards to produce electricity believing that it added a green quality to their homes. Homeowners were incented to place solar panels on their roofs. The Government set up a fund that allowed home owners to finance the cost of the solar panels over 20 years. If the house was purchased the loan could be assumed by the new buyers. A law was passed that all new homes would be required to produce at least 80% of its energy from clean alternatives.

Oil companies lobbied hard to end the green generation. The American people would hear none of it. They made it clear to politicians that to be elected they had to be Green. The laws were passed and the strangulation of the oil cartel was ended. The billions of dollars of savings from the replacement of oil paid for much of the tax incentives. The ending of the war in Iraq paid for even more. The Green generation fueled a new industry in America. Solar and Wind technology was exported to a world hungry to solve their energy shortages. Billions of consumers in Europe and Asia became Americas largest customers. Over 1 million Americans found jobs in the new high tech green industry. Our balance of trade quickly reversed. The American dollar appreciated against all major currencies. Americans took to the skies to visit places they could not afford for decades.

In the Middle East they came to the sudden realization that their billions of barrels of oil reserves were essentially worthless. Since their economies were dependent on a steady stream of oil money they could not adapt to the new world order. Through a combination of extravagant spending patterns and poor investments their oil riches slowly depleted and their peoples went back to the simpler shepherd lives of their ancestors. Without oil money to finance terrorism the world became a safer place to live.

Alas, it is all a dream. The year is 2008 and carbon fumes are still poisoning our people and destroying the planet. Nevertheless, we are at the crossroad. The technology exists, our people are ready, it is an election year. Which road will we take? The World depends on it!

Learn more about this author, Robert Frank.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.