I received the following e-mail from the White House. Blah, blah, blah. Where have we heard all this before? Oh yes, from every president in the last three decades. Once again the politicians have it bass ackwards.
Subsidizing electric cars that are unaffordable or planting windmills and solar panels all around the countryside gets you nowhere.
Mandating higher mileage on vehicles is like mandating lower health insurance premiums. Neither get to the route cause of the problem. In Europe there are lots of very small cars getting pretty good mileage. There are more bicycles in the Netherlands than people and in Italy motor scooters are parked in herds. Gasoline costs $7.00 to $8.00 per gallon so Europeans have adjusted their lifestyles to cope. Americans appear to like the charade of government mandates and endless new plans and strategies. The promise of everything changing and everything staying the same is bogus.
The President says “by 2035, 80 percent of our electricity should come from clean energy sources including renewables like wind and solar, nuclear energy, efficient natural gas, and clean coal.”. Where does he think it comes from now? And please note from start to finish it takes almost until then to get a nuclear plan built and licensed. Probably as long to build the needed transmission lines. Currently only about 1% of electricity is generated by oil. and about 44% from coal, our abundant resource. It appears that generating electricity has little to do with energy independence.
Go back and reread the paragraph about Europe and you will see the real answer for cutting oil consumption. Hey, if as many experts say, the answer for health care cost control is more consumer involvement in cost/benefit and utilization decisions, why doesn’t that apply to using gasoline? Painful yes, but so are the taxes needed to fund all the brilliant ideas to solve problems while avoiding the truth. Do you really believe mileage mandates for vehicles will save you thousands of dollars? If that were true, wouldn’t you always buy a car with outstanding mileage thus assuring manufacturers would rush to build such a vehicle without government action? Do politicians hold us in such low esteem as to believe we are incapable of making logical decisions in our best interest? Better not answer that.
In his speech yesterday, President Obama outlined his plan to secure our energy future by developing and securing America’s energy resources, bringing energy costs down for consumers, and innovating our way to a clean energy future.
Increase domestic energy production.
Last year, American oil production reached its highest level since 2003. And, because we can’t just drill our way out of this crisis, we’re reducing our dependence on oil by increasing fuel efficiency and increasing our production of natural gas and biofuels.
Reduce demand for oil.
Transportation is responsible for 70 percent of our petroleum consumption, so one of the quickest and easiest ways to reduce our dependence on foreign oil is to make transportation more efficient. That’s why, in April of last year, the Obama Administration established a groundbreaking national fuel efficiency standard for cars and trucks that will save us 1.8 billion barrels of oil and save consumers thousands of dollars. We’re also making investments in electric vehicles and the advanced batteries that power them to ensure that high-quality, fuel-efficient cars and trucks are built right here in America.
Increase production of clean energy.
In his State of the Union address, President Obama set a goal that by 2035, 80 percent of our electricity should come from clean energy sources including renewables like wind and solar, nuclear energy, efficient natural gas, and clean coal.
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