Both candidates for president have energy plans according to their web sites. The ideas are remarkably similar. The problem is that neither McCain nor Obama have recognized this issue as significant enough to create a “Manhattan Project” to bring about U.S. independence from foreign oil. Some writers like James Pethokoukis in his U.S. News and World Report blog http://www.usnews.com/blogs/capital-commerce/2008/05/30/do-we-need-an-energy-manhattan-project.html will make fun of this idea but there really is no alternative. Too many people are talking and writing about gasoline at $7.00 a gallon for this not to be a real possibility. The consequences of that situation would be devastating to our nation.
Wind: The Power. The Promise. The Business on the Business Week web site http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_27/b4091046392398.htm is a perfect example of the need for a focused national program. The forces wanting to use coal for generated electricity are fighting against those wanting to use the power of the wind. Coal generated power costs about 1.5 cents per kilowatt-hour to produce but wind power costs 4.5 cents per kilowatt hour. Can we afford wind power?
Wind: The Power. The Promise. The Business on the Business Week web site http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_27/b4091046392398.htm is a perfect example of the need for a focused national program. The forces wanting to use coal for generated electricity are fighting against those wanting to use the power of the wind. Coal generated power costs about 1.5 cents per kilowatt-hour to produce but wind power costs 4.5 cents per kilowatt hour. Can we afford wind power?
Similarly agricultural interests want to convert corn into ethanol and that will impact our nation’s food supply. My own article on ethanol points out the lack of information on the real cost implications and the battle of farmers that are more inclined to fight for their own interests rather than the national interest. See The Energy Crises at http://coastcontact.blogspot.com/2008/06/energy-crises.html.
I believe coal is the answer for the next 100 years. In an article posted August 14, 2007 http://green.yahoo.com/blog/climate411/24/how-much-coal-does-the-u-s-have.html Jeffery Greenblatt, an expert on low-carbon energy technologies at Environmental Defense, and confirmed in a New York Times article dated June 21,2007, indicates the enormous amount of coal in our own country. Project Independence is all about converting our own coal to a non-polluting alternative to gasoline and oil and finding other long term alternatives.
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