by Mark Butler

Created on: July 20, 2008   Last Updated: September 05, 2011

The Case for an Effective National Energy Policy

Largely missed among the news due to the upcoming election, the war in Iraq and the hue and cry of high energy prices was a small bit of news from the Gaza Strip. Palestinians, in an effort to work through the effects of the blockade and embargo that Israel has imposed, have faced rising fuel costs that are equivalent to nearly $100 a gallon. In an effort to have some normalcy, they have demonstrated that necessity is indeed the mother of invention and have successfully used regular car batteries to power a car and have achieved this despite a lack of sophisticated research facilities. On the other side of the blockade, the Israelis are about to engage in a test of an electric car that could possibly see use in America.

As America faces gas prices that average over $4.00 per gallon and home heating oil is pushing $5.00 a gallon, the cry for energy independence has been raised throughout the land. Calls for off-shore drilling of the oil reserves beneath the Continental Shelf and in Alaska and while the oil is certainly there, it only forestalls the problem of limited petroleum products in a world that is increasing its industrialization at an accelerated rate.

What is needed is an effective national energy policy that all politicians have failed to address for the last 30 years. There is no magic wand or silver bullet that will cure America's energy woes or allow us to continue to have the industrial growth that will keep Americans employed in large numbers. Instead, a multi-pronged approach is needed and while the market is responding, it needs prompting and direction. A national energy policy would be the prompting and tax incentives provides the direction.

The major tenets of an effective energy policy should include nuclear power, wind power, solar power, tax incentives for rechargeable electric cars, tax incentives for home energy efficiency improvements; federal loan support for home energy improvements and the list could easily be expanded as new technologies are developed.

Nuclear electrical generating plants would need to be geographically dispersed throughout the United States but close enough to industrial bases that the power supports industry. While there are many objections to nuclear power, there is no production of greenhouse gases from an operating nuclear power plant and they are capable of producing the huge amounts of power that an industrial nation like America needs. Wind and solar, which

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>