Energy Plan for the Nation

An Answer to Foreign Fossil Fuel Dependency

Jones and Associates Sarah Jones

Assetou Barry

John Fritz

Laura Meza

Overview

• Need for action• Immediate Alternatives• Renewable Energy• Political Obstacles and Strategies• Concrete Benefits

Need For Action

• Oil production in the USA has declined by 60% • Global oil production is at or near peak• Renewables remain less than 1%• 2/3 of US energy comes from oil (2/3 of which

comes from abroad) and gas. The rest is mostly coal

Energy Consumption

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Need for Action

• Geopolitics of oil and natural gas, distorted foreign policy

Need for Action

• Strengthen international ties by helping international regime building

• National power-US should lead renewable technology trend

Immediate Alternatives

• Fuel Diversification• Clean Coal• Agricultural fuel crops• Nuclear energy

Renewable Energy Advantages

• Reduce our dependence on foreign oil• Allows military to focus on core mission• Lessen the effects of global climate change• Create a new market in which the United States

could exert influence• Increase our energy options • Protect the US economy

Types of Renewable Energy

• Hydrogen• Wind• Solar• Geothermal• Biomass

Investing in Renewable Energy • Investing $180 billion

over the next decade to eliminate oil dependence can save $130 billion gross, every year by 2025

• This saving can replace today’s $10-billion-a-month oil imports with domestic reinvestment

Investing in Renewable Energy• Should encourage more efficient energy usage• Should institute a carbon tax on high carbon

emitters such as coal plants• Subsidies for energy should reflect the future

energy market• Should increase subsidies to renewable sources • Should decrease subsidies to coal and oil

companies

Political Obstacles and Strategies• Coal Lobby

• Coal generates more than half of the electricity used in the United States

• Invest in clean coal technologies so they can continue to have a percentage of the market

• Develop new gasification methods (Nebraska)

Political Obstacles and Strategies

• Oil Lobby• Invest in automotive efficiency, hybrids

still use oil• Big oil can transition to big hydrogen

Political Obstacles and Strategies

• Other Opponents• Frame issue as a national security threat• Middle East is unstable and our future cannot

be tied to its future

Concrete Benefits

• By 2015, the early steps in this proposed transition will have saved as much oil as the U.S. gets from the Persian Gulf

• By 2040, oil imports could be gone.

• By 2050, the U.S. economy should be flourishing with no oil at all