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The summer of 2008 has been an active month for leaders presenting bold energy ideas. Billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens bought television ads in which he looks straight into the camera and says: “This is one emergency we can’t drill our way out of.” He touts renewable energy, including wind and solar power, and reducing dependence on foreign oil.
Meanwhile, former Vice-President Al Gore has issued a challenge to produce our entire electricity output from non-polluting sources within 10 years. Unlike, Pickens, Gore is motivated by climate change, but both Pickens and Gore want a substantial increase in cleaner and renewable energy sources.
Republican John McCain floated an idea to offer a $300 million award to anyone who can perfect an electric car. His idea may come across as a gimmick, but it recognizes an underlying truth: The world needs an alternative to the internal combustion engine.
It’s very encouraging that these ideas coincide with the 2008 election. While it’s painful for Americans to pay $4 for a gallon of gasoline, we need more than a short-term plan to lower gas prices; we need a comprehensive plan that transforms how energy is produced and consumed.
The good news is that our energy situation is as much an opportunity as an emergency. Cheap oil has delivered bigger cars and bigger houses that sit on bigger and more isolated lots, but has it really made our lives better? Is the exurban home that’s an hour away from work really worth the long commute, congestion, smog and loss of farmland and green space? Perhaps the idea of neighborhoods will return -- neighborhoods where it’s actually possible to get to school, church or the grocery store without jumping into the car.
Residential sprawl is extremely costly, and the world can’t extract enough oil, liquefy enough coal or distill enough ethanol to ever make it cheap again. But that’s not a problem, it’s an opportunity to redesign our communities and encourage clean, energy-efficient methods to get from one place to another. Our new energy future isn’t austerity; it represents a major step forward in the American quality of life.
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