Energy

It is wonderful that through fracking and other technological breakthroughs we have figured out how to extract a lot more oil from American soil over the last 25 years, so much so that for the first time since World War II America has been a net oil exporter for the last decade or so.  I for one was completely shocked that gas prices went down about 5 years ago from where they had been in the 2000’s.  I guess I was completely cynical that once the price goes up for something, it never goes down again, but I was wrong.  

However, there is a reason they are called “fossil” fuels, and I’m not talking about what they are made of.  The future of power is renewable sources of energy.  And the future is here now.  We have a simple choice to make….do we want America to be the leader in new and emerging technologies so that we have a leg up on the competition for many years and decades to come, or do we want to keep napping while other countries and their companies eat our lunch?  

Did you know that the entire planet is expected to only have about 50 years left of oil supply (and that is according to an oil company (BP)?  As far as natural gas is concerned, did you know that just in America, we have less than 100 years of natural gas left?  

You can use whatever energy-pun analogy you want, “light a fire under it”, “push the gas pedal to the floor”, but we have got to make a major push as a nation to invest in, research, and produce renewable sources of energy, and not for climate change (which I totally believe in and will get to later), but because it is good business.  

At the same time, I agree that we should not be pursuing any more nuclear power plants….the long term costs in terms of waste disposal and handling are just not worth the hassle and worry, especially after seeing what could happen with the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan in March of 2011.

The bottom line is that the Department of Energy is critical to our present and future and we need to make absolutely sure that it is fully funded and has our full support.