Your responses keep rolling in to the question ENN's publisher, Jerry Kay, posed on Tuesday: If you could have written the energy bill, what would you have included? Here's the most recent round of insightful ideas. We'll be collecting as much input as we can over the next few days, so please send in your thoughts!
Your responses keep rolling in to the question ENN's publisher, Jerry Kay, posed on Tuesday: If you could have written the energy bill, what would you have included? Here's the most recent round of insightful ideas. We'll be collecting as much input as we can over the next few days, so please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.!
In my comments to legislators I asked that there be the same number of dollars for non-renewable subsidies (oil, gas, coal, nuclear) as renewable subsidies (solar, wind, hydro, biomass) and let the market decide. Much of the argument against renewables is financial. I asked that they let the market decide when the subsidies were equal. GM is learning, the hard way, from Toyota what the market wants.
- H. Meranda
Two ideas: require cleaner diesel fuel ASAP and require high MPG vehicles ASAP.
- Nadine
If I could have written the energy bill, I would have started with the CAFE standards which would have the largest and broadest impact of any items in the energy bill. A slight increase in fuel efficiency would make a large dent in our dependence on oil (foreign, or domestic), cut pollution and save consumers at the pump. Auto producers would have two years warning. At that point, the new standards would start small with a 5 mpg increase and would continue to increase by a similar amount every 2 years. A decade of these gradual and easily achievable standards would decrease our dependence on oil and spur new ideas and technology surrounding the use of alternative energy sources. My second objective would be to stimulate the use of renewable energy sources. Much more funding would be required for the research and development of electricity storage. If the ability to store electricity were increased and made more efficient, it would open the door to many more alternative energy sources. There is already a laundry list of ways to generate electricity without harming the environment, but the high costs, or inability, to transmit and store the electricity produced is hindering these from becoming mainstream. I would also offer tax credits for individuals who purchase the products to generate and store their own electricity. This would help to spawn a new industry segment, help individuals become more self-sufficient, reduce the stress on current power plants, and offer protection from any future blackouts. My third major objective would be the gradual taxation of the "dirty" energy sources. The tax would be on carbon emissions beyond limits to be set by the EPA. These limits to be reviewed and revised incrementally, with input from multiple sources, in order to accommodate any atmospheric changes. The pollution taxes collected would be used to fund the tax breaks and research associated with alternative "green" sources of energy and energy storage. The looming threat of higher taxes to be paid by some energy companies would be a huge boost to developing cleaner technologies, carbon sequestration and higher efficiency by both producer and consumer.
- R. Hughes
Provide incentives to curtail urban sprawl. One possible scheme would be to assess a one time fee on all new dwelling units on a sliding scale, based on density per acre, so that: one dwellingunit/acre or less would pay $2,500; 2-10 units/acre would pay $1,000; 11-20 units/acre would pay $50 and above 20 units/acre would pay nothing. Up front cost is the biggest stumbling block to the adoption of photovoltaic solar power, so subsidize the cost of construction and startup of new photovoltaic cell plants to increase their cost competitiveness with other energy sources. Add to this, establishing federal underwriting thepurchase and installation costs of photovoltaic cells with payback based on energy cogeneration rates paid by the utilities. Essential to this is a federal requirement for electric utilities to purchase excess energy produced by solar/wind/fuel cell/waste heat cogeneration at the utility'sown sale rate as is already required by some states.
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Provide a credit to new car dealers for scrapping trade-in vehicles that achieve less then CAFÉ standards for that class of vehicle. This would move more older/less efficient vehicles off the streets and simultaneously, provide needed steel scrap, helping keep a lid on the recentlyvolatile steel market. This subsidy is needed to offset the dealer’s loss for not reselling the vehicle. Provide a tax credit, on a sliding scale, for new commercial building projects in excess of 15,000 square feet that achieve LEED Silver ($1,000), Gold ($2,500) and Platinum of ($5,000) to offset the increased design costs of achieving these levels of efficiency. I would invest in the distribution grids for electricity, potable water and sewage (the latter two are huge consumers of electricity, largely due to leakage) to improve reliability and efficiency.
- R. Howey
My wife owns a Honda civic hybrid, I'm on my 2nd Prius (an '02 to an '05).
All large city cab owners would have to switch to Hybrids when putting new cars on the road. Increase the charge for energy to reflect its true cost with increased money going towards alternative sources. Move towards smaller diversified sources of energy like the wind, the tide, waves, solar heating and solar electricity. Follow Europe's lead in recycling appliances and cars which further reduces energy needs. End the culture of waste by example in government.
- A. Howard
Remove all subsidies for oil, natural gas, and coal and institute a carbon tax. Provide low and no interest loans for the general public to purchase renewable equipment (public and commercial). Subsidize energy efficiency. Provide tax credits for installation of any renewable project.
- M. Russell
With an average fuel economy of just 20 MPG, the US automobile fleet is grossly inefficient and consumptive. If there was ever any "low hanging fruit" in regard to energy efficiency, increasing CAFE standards are it. I find it almost unbelievable that there was no increase in vehicle efficiency standards in this energy bill.
- C. Fox
Could have supported more and better mass transit in those areas where mass transit makes sense. More incentives to use mass transit as an alternative to the personal vehicle. Trying to get more use of ethanol is a creative subsidy for mid-west farmers but not net fuel efficient and is only a first step. Need more research to find better bio fuel sources, such as sugar bagasse, etc. If we can figure out a way to make wind and solar applicable in agriculture, could reduce the fossil fuel investment in bio-fuel source production. Support more research for hydropower which comes from waves, tides and currents. Incentivize the housing developments that do not promote sprawl but work with states and communities to have better planned communities that reduce need for commuting and reduce need for auto trips for schools, shopping, etc. Congress seemed to use this bill, as others, as a gravy and Pork train and there is no apparent near term solution to our problem. Glad that the Arctic drilling didn't get in there [need to keep it out in the Fall when it comes back on its own]. Getting back to a series of fuel efficiency increases on autos which we once had and backed away from is mandatory. There is no reason why we can push Detroit to meet the success of Toyota's Prius and the other hybrids in the near term. In a few short years, that could save enormous amounts of gasoline. We should be using fossil fuels for our feedstock for chemical process industry rather than simply burning them away. We need to have education and training for all citizens, especially in lower levels of school systems to better inform students about energy issues and get them started now in thinking about fuel economy, conservation, etc. Design video games to emphasize this concept instead of killing aliens and street thugs.
- J. Delfino
"Local energy bonds" could be sold to provide up-front costs for establishing community energy departments (one or twenty people). Their job would be to reduce energy consumption in the community by at least 30% by maximizing conservation, efficiency, and purchasing for residential, commercial, and governmental entities. The payback on the bonds would, over time, finance the effort. Thank you for your interest in the opinions of others.
- L. Davis
So what would you include in the energy bill? Please send your thoughts to Jerry Kay, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
