What steps do you suggest the U.S. take in order to move toward energy independence?

8 Responses to What steps do you suggest the U.S. take in order to move toward energy independence?

1. lc001 says:

   February 24, 2011 at 10:43 pm

   From a US standpoint – I’d think the best move is to invade and annex a oil-producing country – it would guarantee our energy independence. The armed conflict would also boost the economy and provide short term (5-10 years) jobs building/rebuilding our infrastructure to connect the new territory to the mainland.

   Win-win, right? Just kidding.

   Just goes to show that finesse may not always provide the immediate results sought, yet brute force may not always enter anyone’s mind.

   Not really a suggestion, the question has always been – how far do you think we should be going to achieve results? Do you start with doing nothiing and crank up, or do you start with an effective (but bad) answer and make it palatable?

   I have no acceptable solution. I hope you find one.

   Good luck!
2. theosharatos says:

   February 24, 2011 at 9:56 pm

   step 1, every household needs their own greenhouse to raise their own food on property,
   step 2, build a windmill near house
3. Col B says:

   February 24, 2011 at 9:35 pm

   There are alternative energy souces out there. Iceland is the worlds largest producer of geo-thermal power. With the cheap electricity they produce Icelanders are capable of :
   1) Processing Aluminium
   2) Producing Hydrogen from electrolysis
   Normally hydrogen produced by electrolysis is expensive as it requires a lot of power. The cheaply produced hydrogen is used in hydrogen vehicles. Mercedes, BMW and Honda supply hydrogen vehicles to Iceland and Icelanders are the worlds largest consumer of hydrogen powered vehicles. When you burn hydrogen in an engine, you get two by-products. O2 and H2O. The H2O is mainly in the form of vapour.

   So, there should be a huge amount of money allocated for the development of geothermal power. There should also be money allocated for the development of more hydrogen powered vehicles and other modes of transport.
   And, really, the only industries that tell us that jobs will be lost are those industries that will face competition and possible extinction from cleaner, alternative, cheaper energy sources. The jobs may be lost from one industry, but will be available in the new emerging industry. If I was a huge corporation with billions of dollars invested in exploration, production and logistics infrastructure, and with many millions of share holders, and I had a personal multi-million dollar income, I too would be scaring everybody about losing their jobs.
   New jobs would be created in the new industries and perhaps even more opportunities for other industries to thrive and compete against emerging 3rd world economies if we produced much cheaper, cleaner, renewable energies.
4. gypsyeyes says:

   February 24, 2011 at 8:35 pm

   go to this website, it’s an organic clothing line but chock full of information about what pesticides and such are doing to our planet. soon I think they will have a blog forum to discuss these things.
5. Z-Taxi says:

   February 24, 2011 at 7:59 pm

   Check out Gen-IV nuclear reactors. A world consortium is working on designs that are safe and proliferation-resistant and which can increase the yield from uranium as well as use thorium as fuel. As a bonus, they can also be used to fission 99% of the long-lived nuclear waste from existing programmes, shortening the half-life from millennia to a few hundred years.
6. Michael says:

   February 24, 2011 at 7:21 pm

   Don’t expect any research and development to be done by any car manufacture at this point. As it is right now, GM, which is the largest US auto manufactures, and thereby the world’s largest, is seeking $12 billion in loans from the US Government, and may need an additional $6 billion. Other auto manufactures are asking for similar financial bail outs in order to break even, to have the resources to survive the current economic recession (which we will officially be in by the begging of the year, next month).

   Green energy requires additional research and development, and in order to make the a realistic task from US auto manufactures, they would have to be making considerable profits. But right now, they have been loosing money for several months. They cannot afford to pay for the research and development–they don’t have the money to do it!

   What’s more, maybe the US shouldn’t be making cars after all. The US doesn’t build TVs anymore, or radios, or CD players, computers, electronics, I mean, there are many industries where all manufacturing is either outsourced by a US company, or not even made by the US. And if the American auto industry doesn’t survive this economic recession, they could end up going out of business.

   In the current condition of the US economy, US industries are not in the position to spend millions, and potentially billions, of monetary resources for Green energy, which has yet to still be proven to be effective. And with oil trading at less than $47 a barrel, the American consumer doesn’t need to pay a great deal to gas up their car, we’re paying bellow $2 a gallon now!

   At this point, alternative energy research ought to be a long term goal that manufactures will inevitbaly have to reach. However, in light of the current economic situation and the pending survival of the US auto industry, money must be spent by these companies in order to survive and maintain the jobs of their 30,000+ employees.
7. Conservative A says:

   February 24, 2011 at 6:27 pm

   The U.S. government needs to get out of the way of the U.S. market place and let U.S. corporations manage coal and oil exploration and development. The market will bring alternative energy forward when it is time. Meddling (funding) by the government only stifles progress and wastes resources.

   “How do you respond to industries who try to argue that we have to choose between jobs and clean energy?”

   Cite an example of an industry making that type of argument since I haven’t heard one.
8. PattyAnn says:

   February 24, 2011 at 6:06 pm

   Is this your homework?