Crossposted from Daily Kos
In the next few days, we are going to roll out the new draft of the Energize America plan, and we count on you to help us improve this plan even further before it is unveiled formally during the energy panel at YearlyKos in Las Vegas on June 9.
Today, I am posting the Executive Summary of Draft Five and the list of the 20 Acts included in Energize America which give it its comprehensive and coherent character (we hope). The full plan will be posted tomorrow morning on DailyKos.
In the spirit of this endeavor, I ask that you comment and criticize this Executive Summary. As it is likely to be the first (and in many case, the only) document that most people will see, it needs to be compelling and convincing, and we count on your help to improve it further. So fire away with your comments, ideally with suggestions in complement to whatever criticism you may have.
Draft Five was prepared by George Karayannis (DoolittleSothere), with the help of the full Energize America team. Full credits will be given tomorrow.
Energize America – Achieving U.S. Energy Security by 2020 – Executive Summary
Objectives
To provide the U.S. with Energy Security by 2020 and Energy Independence by 2040 by: 1) reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 75%, 2) reducing oil imports by 50%, 3) generating 25% of electricity from renewable sources, and 4) creating or preserving over three million new jobs by 2020.
Description
America remains dangerously and increasingly addicted to fossil fuels, which directly threatens national security, economic stability and the overall quality of American life. In addition to remaining critically dependent upon imported oil to meet transportation needs, America remains highly dependent upon domestic coal to meet its needs for electricity. The rapidly growing use of both of these fossil fuels generates enormous amounts of GHGs, which become trapped in the earth’s atmosphere and contribute to global warming and its associated extreme weather events and sea level changes.
Interruptions to oil, gas or coal supplies by natural or man-made events can cause significant and prolonged economic pain and social turmoil with little or no warning.
America once led the world in both automotive and renewable energy engineering, but has seen this lead vanish to foreign competitors along with well over a million manufacturing jobs.
Energize America is a grassroots effort created and refined by informed citizen activists, and not by lobbyists or politicians. As such, it takes an unvarnished and objective look at U.S. energy policy with the single goal of achieving U.S. energy security by 2020, defined as the ability to withstand a prolonged supply interruption, and U.S. energy independence by 2040, defined as energy self-sufficiency.
Energize America provides an ambitious but achievable 20-point plan to wean America from its fossil fuel addiction, to dramatically and responsibly reduce GHG emissions, to rebuild America’s manufacturing base, and to insulate the American economy from the effects of political turmoil, natural catastrophes and shrinking oil supplies worldwide.
Energize America strongly favors a free market-based approach to solving our energy dilemma, though the plan is clearly guided by a strategic vision of a sustainable energy future and a public-private partnership model based on the highly-successful Apollo lunar program.
Energize America will leverage the incredible power and innovation of American industry to research, develop and commercialize energy efficiency technologies that will provide significant and continuous improvements to American consumers, and will help focus and unleash this creativity through clear and consistent policies and substantial long-term tax and regulatory incentives.
Energize America aims to create a level playing field for all energy providers, consumers and technologies. For renewable energy sources, this will mean subsidizing the development and deployment of wind, solar, biomass and other solutions. These investments will help these clean and local sources of energy compete more effectively with fossil fuels, which have benefited from decades of direct subsidies and other benefits. Figure 2 below highlights one example of the historical disparity in federal financial support for nuclear and wind power – with nuclear power enjoying nearly 40 times the financial assistance of wind over an initial 15 year development period while delivering only slightly more gross electricity production.
Benefits
Energize America will transform American society – from the way we generate and use energy, to the way we design and drive vehicles, to the way we think about energy efficiency and conservation, to the way we deal with foreign governments. In short, Energize America will create an energy-aware culture that treats energy as a strategic and vital economic resource, and which leads the world in the design and manufacture of renewable energy systems and energy efficient products.
Energize America will:
- enable Americans to soon drive vehicles that are far safer, cleaner, and dramatically more fuel-efficient than today’s vehicles,
- maximize energy efficiency in homes and businesses,
- strengthen the U.S. industrial base,
- ensure that the United States leads the world in the benefits of clean coal, in the design, manufacture and export of renewable energy systems, and in the reduction of GHGs,
- save taxpayers money by lowering the cost of operating federal, state and local governments,
- save the US economy billions of dollars per year through reduced medical and other costs associated with global warming and pollution.
Most importantly, Energize America will ensure that all Americans can enjoy continued access to safe, reliable and affordable energy.
In sum, Energize America will save Americans trillions of dollars in energy costs and reduce GHG emissions 75% by 2020, and make energy independence by 2040 attainable.
Benefit Examples
Homeowners – will save money from:
1) highly energy efficient dwellings,
2) an ability to directly control energy costs,
3) greater energy provider choice, and
4) the ability to generate some or all of their own electricity needs.
Businesses – will benefit from:
1) energy-optimized buildings and factories,
2) increased control over energy costs,
3) greater ability to generate some or all of their energy needs, and
4) access to new markets for energy-efficient products and services
US Automakers – will profit from:
1) access to a ready market for ultra fuel efficient vehicles
2) the creation and retention of over 1 million auto manufacturing jobs
3) a rare opportunity to regain a competitive edge globally
Communities – will gain from:
1) energy availability in the event of an unplanned, large-scale power failure
2) energy solutions matched to local needs and resources
3) new jobs from renewable energies, particularly for rural and remote communities
4) enhanced ability to attract and retain new residents and businesses
Environment – will benefit from:
1) stabilized GHG levels
2) the protection of natural resources and designated ecosystems
Energize America will undoubtedly be attacked by special interests — namely the fossil fuel lobbies that will resist its aggressive migration to renewable energy sources. In addition, those who do not agree that global warming poses a growing threat may challenge its GHG emissions goals. Energize America will not please everyone, but it is designed with all Americans, and all future generations, in mind. Following is a summary of Energize America‘s position relative to existing energy sources.
Oil
Energize America is driven by the reality of ‘Peak Oil’, the fact our planet is reaching or has reached an irreversible period of shrinking oil production- which is compounded by rapidly growing demand worldwide. Tar sands and other oil sources can provide some stop-gap relief from Peak Oil but cannot fully replace increasingly expensive and rare oil. Energize America aims to make the U.S. functionally free from imported oil by 2040 for national security, economic, and environmental reasons.
Coal
America enjoys the largest coal reserves in the world, which is both a blessing and a curse. Coal can meet our long-term needs for electricity and can also be liquefied into oil for transportation. However, the mining of coal can be devastating to the environment if not done carefully, and the burning of coal can release significant amounts of GHGs into the atmosphere if not done responsibly. Energize America aims to minimize the environmental and GHG impact of coal use.
Nuclear
Nuclear power is experiencing a political resurgence of sorts, and several new plants are in various stages of planning. However, the nuclear industry enjoys huge subsidies that shield the industry from nuclear disaster liability. The nuclear industry and our government have also failed for decades to solve the nuclear waste problem. These issues must be addressed before nuclear power is more widely used.
Investment
Energize America will require an investment of approximately $250 billion through 2020, or roughly $20 billion per year – a strategic investment that will provide substantial returns immediately and for generations to come. Included in Act XX is a balanced funding strategy to achieve U.S. energy security.
Energize America Acts
The following Acts are detailed in the full version of the plan (to be posted tomorrow):
I…….The Passenger Vehicle Fuel Efficiency Act (“500mpg cars“)
II……The Transportation Industry Efficiency Act (“Long Haul“)
III…..The Fleets Conversion Act (“Mass Transit“)
IV…..The Community-Based Energy Investment Act (“Neighborood Power“)
V……The Passenger Rail Restoration Act (“Bullet Trains“)
VI…..The Clean Coal Generation Act (“Clean Coal“)
VII….The Wind Energy Production Tax Credit Act (“Reap the Wind“)
VIII…The 20 Million Solar Roof Act (“Harness the Sun“)
IX…..The Renewable Portfolio Standards Act (“Fair Everywhere“)
X……The Federal Net Metering Act (“Get on the Grid“)
XI…..The State-Based Renewable Energy Investment Act (“Green States“)
XII….The New Energy Technology Demonstration Act (“Liquid Coal and Golden Glow“)
XIII…The Sustainable Energy Economic Prosperity Act (“Focused for Lasting Success“)
XIV…The Carbon Reduction Act (“Atmosphere Stability“)
XV….The Federal Energy Policy Enforcement Act (“People’s Energy Watchdog“)
XVI…The National Energy Efficiency & Conservation Act (“EnergySMART“)
XVII..The Home Efficiency Act (“C the Light“)
XVIII.The Demand Side Management Act (“Real Time Energy Pricing“)
XIX…The Telecommuter Assistance Act (“Work Smart“)
XX….The Energy Security Funding Act (“Paying the Piper“)
Excellent, impressive, and I’m happy to see that this plan addresses the need for increased focus on mass public transit. This involves life-style changes and undoing the brainwashing we are subjected to by the auto industry, making people think they need to buy a new car every year in order to maintain their social status, and only poor people ride the bus.
Vehicle fads are one of the worst manifestations of Capitalism. Yay, free market, but you have to deal with the effects of auto industry brainwashing. This is powerful stuff driven by very powerful “special interests” i.e. super greedy corporate executives from the auto and oil industries, such as the Bush Crime Family who also own the media.
These people are — and long have been — in the unique position of power in both the oil industry and intelligence communities and after they realized they were running out of “black gold” in this country, they used this privileged position to construct enemies in the Middle East (such as Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden, who both received CIA training) to justify military aggression with the sole aim of securing their own oil interests.
Transportation is not a personal fashion statement. That is ludicrous and bogus and you can’t have a real solution to the climate crisis unless you deal with the waste that goes into promoting transportation as a personal fashion statement. We have enough cars on this planet. There is no excuse for raping the planet for the sake of manufacturing EVEN ONE MORE CAR.
So don’t cater to the auto industry in your Energize America plan. Cater to the auto mechanics industry. Let’s create more jobs there and endow them with the dignity they deserve. And let’s figure out how to undo decades of brainwashing that compells people to identify with their cars.
Well, the plan will not be a frontal attack on the car industry, as we propose rebates for high mpg cars (along with penalties for low mpg cars) – but there will be strong incentives for car manufacturers to get serious about fuel efficiency.
We have to make proposals that have a chance to fly AND change (slowly at first) the way we look at these things.
Thanks for the reply Jerome, I am very happy that you are addressing these critical issues. Thank you so much for all of the work you have done on this.
My suggestion has to do with issues that are going on at a deeper level, such the cultural justification for “built in obsolescence.” This stems from auto industry brainwashing. If you want to deal with climate change that is triggered from industrial pollution, you need to deal with the pollution that is generated by the auto industry and their promotion of the mentality that demands a new car every year to satisfy our craving for social status.
Once not long ago I was on a plane and realized that the seatbelts were the same as 1970 cars! No one drives a 1970 car anymore, but I was entrusting my life to an aircraft that was build before billions of cars ended up on the scrap heap. If we can build an airplane to last 30 years, we can build a car to last 100 years. This needs to be part of your Energize America plan, IMHO.
Not suggesting a frontal attack, just that the need to address the fallout from the psychological and cultural pollution from automobile advertising should be in there somewhere. If not, there is little hope that this or any such plan will be successful.
Not to alarm you, but many airplanes have 30+ year old seat belts because they are 30+ year old airplanes. 😉
Supposedly airplanes have less wear and tear flying through the air than cars dealing with potholes and road vibrations (I would imagine this goes for boats as well). I’m not an expert on the subject, but I seem to recall reading that somewhere.
The concept is exciting.The Draft as posted appears to follow clearly. My concern is that the present day U.S population has been conditioned to turn off after a very short time on topic – so, if I can offer a suggestion to you folks- KISS! And the simplelerererer you can keep it the better off you wil be. Individual Items should always reflect a simplicity or forget it.
That is it form me for now. I will be looking foward eagerly to reading the completed program but please don’t overload me with alot a woids.
billjpa@aol.com
I like it. It’s a wrap.
Start drafting the legislation because as the proverb goes, “the devil is in the details.”
Start figuring out where it is likely to get twisted into its opposite as it moves through the legislative process.
And start estimating the public and private investments required, the economic growth generated, and the savings and government revenues that will cover the transition.
Outstanding
Outstanding! The months of dedicated hard work by you and the others who developed this proposal are clearly evident. I have only some minor thoughts for your consideration:
1) This executive summary is obviously aimed at businessmen, government officials, and others with the education requisite to chew on its dense prose. Don’t get me wrong – I think it’s wonderful. But I’m the kind of person used to reading the scientific literature, where (as in your document) every phrase is laden with meaning – there are no extraneous words.
It may be too heavy going for the press or public, so when you release the media version, remember the audience includes voters who may have been deprived of an adequate education to digest your prescription in this formulation.
2) Please consider the following change (not essential; just a suggestion):
Current wording: In addition, those who do not agree that global warming poses a growing threat may challenge its GHG emissions goals.
Proposed wording: In addition, those who refuse to accept the consensus of the scientific community that global warming poses a growing threat may challenge its GHG emissions goals.
3) You may want to add a 7th bullet to state that Energize America “will reduce international tensions and conflicts over scarce resources. By developing alternative energy sources that can be tapped by the US within our borders (and likewise for other nations), the potential for wars over energy will be minimized.”
This would serve to highlight yet another difference between the world we live in now under the Bush administration and where we might live if we took a more enlightened path.
Jerome, this is a magnificent piece of work. Your planet thanks you and your committee.
The audacity of this proposal’s scope and ambition are breathtaking – I can only hope that enough of the American spirit that put men on the moon in a decade remains, so that the can-do fiery spirit that once made this nation great can be rekindled for the benefit of humanity.
If our nation were to embrace this program and implement it, we would go a long way towards addressing the debt we owe the world after the last six years, as many of the inventions and concepts will benefit all peoples on earth.
And it would again allow Americans of good will to not have to hang their head in shame in the presence of the community of nations.
I think the content of what you’ve written is excellent. Kudos.
However, to speak bluntly, the writing is not as simple as it needs to be.
I am not speaking of watering down the content in any way, but of making it more accessible.
First, who is your audience? If you are “preaching to the choir”, that is, college-educated progressives who can read technical writing with ease, this is likely fine. If, however, you are aiming for a broader audience, you need to have this worked over by a sympathetic wordsmith.
Second, there are common problems you can easily see if you pop the document into MSWord and gather the readability data on the text sections. Look at the numbers for passive sentences, readability, and grade level.
Your document’s readability is low. and grade level of education required of a typical reader is fairly high. About a third of your text is in passive voice. Shorten your sentences. Use simpler language, and vary it more. For example, look at how many times “remain” gets used in just the first two sentences in your first full paragraph. Ditch the Roman Numerals.
Third, define a few key terms. I realized that this is a summary, but that makes it doubly important to be succinct and accessible to readers with considerably less expertise than yourselves. Most of us here know what greenhouse gases are, but many other potential readers do not. You assume too much if you aim at a wider readership.
Perhaps the main difficulty is a common one: it is hard to edit your own writing (my spouse says my writing, untouched by other coauthors, or editors, sounds like it is translated from the original Latin.) I think you all have done a great job, and I am so impressed by this work. However, the old adage of being too close to the forest to see the trees applies: get some help with the text before this goes out to a wider audience.
Thanks for allowing us to participate in the process.
The audience of this particular document is the political/media/pundit world.
There WILL be simpler versions for public use.
Jerome – many thanks to you and the committee – this is a marvelous piece of work!
My suggestion is to move and change this paragraph:
I would place it after the paragraph about “Investment.” I would change it to something like this:
Energize America requires making changes, but these changes are necessary for our survival. Those who refuse to accept the consensus of the scientific community that global warming poses a growing threat may challenge its GHG emissions goals.* They are a minority. Only energy dinosaurs with limited vision, who are profiting from the unsustainable status quo will actively attack and resist Energize America. They would rather die than change, taking everyone with them. Energize America is designed for ALL Americans, now, and for future generations.
* From KP