Well the interminable election process is finally over and it ends with a historic day for America. Barack Obama is the new president of the United States. Energy was a big topic during this campaign as both sides tried to illuminate us with their vision of new energy policy for our country in the coming months.

So now what? Does energy development and more specifically renewable energy development stay high on the agenda of the new administration or does it fall by the wayside behind the economy and the war as far as topic of action in Washington?

Obama has spoken long and loud about the need to address this issue. Now though gas prices have slumped due to the economic meltdown and world wide falling oil prices. This could throw cold water on the energy issue. If consumers are no longer freaking out about rising gas prices where will the cry come from for advancement of energy development? Don’t get me wrong I am not arguing for high gas prices. I just want to see government action that is not dependent on civic crisis but rather long term vision.

Let’s hope President Obama appoints some smart people to address long term renewable energy policy development.

By the way did you see the election eve pitch the Republicans made about some of Obama’s comments from months ago about the coal industry? They tried to make out like he was out to kill the coal industry with regulation for clean emissions, but in fact Mr McCain himself proffered just such a policy in the Senate last year. Silly election eve stuff but in truth both of these candidate have similar energy positions in many areas.

John McCain’s Energy Policy – Campaign 2008

John McCain Commerical

John McCain talks about Ethanol

* FactCheck: Oil independence will take 25 years, not 5 years. (Dec 2007)
* Climate change is real; nuclear power is solution. (Oct 2007)
* Public pressure on oil industry to invest in alternatives. (Oct 2007)
* FactCheck: nuclear plants do emit no GHGs, but do have waste. (Jun 2007)
* Reinvest oil profits in nuclear power. (Jun 2007)
* Ethanol made no sense in `05 but with $60/bbl it makes sense. (May 2007)
* Strength Clean Air & Water Acts; but not Kyoto. (Jan 2000)
* Supports alternative fuels, emission controls, & CWA. (Jul 1998)
* Voted YES on disallowing an oil leasing program in Alaska’s ANWR. (Nov 2005)
* Voted NO on $3.1B for emergency oil assistance for hurricane-hit areas. (Oct 2005)
* Voted NO on reducing oil usage by 40% by 2025 (instead of 5%). (Jun 2005)
* Voted YES on banning drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Mar 2005)
* Voted NO on Bush Administration Energy Policy. (Jul 2003)
* Voted YES on targeting 100,000 hydrogen-powered vehicles by 2010. (Jun 2003)
* Voted YES on removing consideration of drilling ANWR from budget bill. (Mar 2003)
* Voted NO on drilling ANWR on national security grounds. (Apr 2002)
* Voted NO on terminating CAFE standards within 15 months. (Mar 2002)
* Voted YES on preserving budget for ANWR oil drilling. (Apr 2000)
* Voted YES on defunding renewable and solar energy. (Jun 1999)
* Voted YES on approving a nuclear waste repository. (Apr 1997)
* Voted NO on do not require ethanol in gasoline. (Aug 1994)
* Rated 17% by the CAF, indicating opposition to energy independence. (Dec 2006)
* Supports immediate reductions in greenhouse gases. (Sep 1998)

Barack Obama’s Energy Policy – Campaign 2008

* Energy ANWR: The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a protected area in northern Alaska that contains substantial supplies of oil and gas. Conservatives favor drilling ANWR to extract the oil, while liberals favor maintaining its protected status.
* Deregulation Crisis: California suffered ‘rolling blackouts’ in 2001 due to insufficient energy supplies. California had partially deregulated its energy industry, by freeing retail prices, but maintaining controls on wholesale prices. Conservatives favor full deregulation and/or building more energy supply as a solution; liberals favor conservation and better regulation of energy delivery systems.
* Energy Conservation: Americans are by far the least energy-efficient people in the industrialized world, primarily due to the heavy reliance on personal automobiles. Liberals favor ongoing efforts toward conservation, via more efficient automobiles and appliances, as well as voluntary usage restrictions; the goal is to avoid the need for additional energy imports or oil drilling.
* Alternative Energy: The federal government regularly funds research into solar power, wind power, wave power, biomass power, and other alternative energy sources, but none are competitively priced with gas and oil at the present time. Liberals contend that gas and oil prices are kept artificially low by federal intervention (including military action in the Mideast), which results in policy prescriptions like President Clinton’s proposed ‘BTU Tax’ in the early 1990s, intended to foster alternative energy development.

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Address to the Detroit Economic Club – Energy

Obama TV Commercial

Washington Post coverage of Barack Obama energy policy:

What types of regulations and guidelines do you plan on implementing or promoting in order to deal with climate change and to make our country less oil dependent?

Global warming is not just the greatest environmental challenge facing our planet — it is one of our greatest challenges of any kind. Combating global warming will be a top priority of my presidency, and I will attend to it personally. Putting a price on carbon is the most important step we can take to reduce emissions. I will enact an economy-wide market-based cap-and-trade system to reduce U.S. carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050. I will devote significant resources from a permit auction toward accelerating the development and deployment of low carbon technologies and addressing the economic challenges imposed on key industrial sectors. Another top priority for my energy and global warming agenda will be changing the cars we drive and the fossil fuels we burn. I will increase fuel efficiency standards by 4% per year, lift the 60,000-per-manufacturer cap on buyer tax credits to encourage more Americans to buy ultra-efficient vehicles, and encourage automakers to make fuel efficient hybrid vehicles. Domestic automakers will get either assistance shouldering their health care legacy costs in exchange for investing 50 percent of the savings into technology to produce more fuel-efficient vehicles or generous tax incentives for retooling assembly plants. I proposed a National Low Carbon Fuel Standard to reduce the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of passenger vehicle fuels sold in the U.S. by 10 percent in 2020 and require additional reductions of 1% annually thereafter.
Should the government have a role in encouraging development of energy efficient technologies and sustainable energy resources? If yes, how would you do it?

Yes, I will dramatically increase federal investment in advanced clean-energy technologies and energy efficiency. I believe that the U.S. can and should be a global leader in the development of alternative energy sources, such as ethanol and other biofuels, as well as wind and solar. We should set benchmarks for production so that more companies will invest in production and create distribution facilities where the average consumer can access biofuels for cars designed to run on them. And I believe nationally we must get more energy from renewable sources and support a goal of 20% renewable energy by 2020. We have vast potential in this country to produce clean renewable energy and reduce our reliance on dwindling domestic natural gas reserves. The investment certainty provided by a significant RPS will encourage innovation, bring down the costs of renewable power, encourage necessary investment in new transmission, inspire new domestic industries, and strengthen rural economies. I will also create the 5-E (Energy Efficiency, Environmental Education and Employment) Disconnected Youth Service Corps. This program will directly engage disconnected and disadvantaged youth in energy efficiency and environmental service opportunities to strengthen their communities while also providing them with practical skills and experience in important career fields of expected high-growth employment. The program will engage private sector employers and unions to provide apprenticeship opportunities.

Hillary on video regarding Energy

In this video Hillary answers questions about her Energy policy at an event in Iowa.

Campaign Commercial – Hillary talks about Energy
More on Hillary Rodham Clinton – Energy Policy for 2008 Election