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Energy policy of the United States
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Energy Policy is the legislated use and choice of energy in America.
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Energy Policy is the stated and unstated government legislated use of energy in a nation. For example, in the Colonial era the energy policy was for free use of standing timber for heating and industry. In the nineteenth century, it was access to coal and the use of coal for transport, heating and industry. Sperm whales were rendered into lamp oil. Coal provided the bulk of the nation's energy needs well into the twentieth century. By 1950 a major shift in Energy Policy occurred, the abundance of Californian, Texas and Mexican oil had triumphed by oil's (then) cost, ease of transport, and use in internal combustion engines. The success of oil in the First and Second World War had won the debate.
With this in mind, the nation undertook steps to convert the nation to using oil. Oil heating boilers took over from coal burners in the Eastern Seaboard; diesel locomotives took over from steam engines; oil fired electricity plants were built; oil burning buses replaced electric streetcars, and citizens took to gasoline powered cars. Those cars soon travelled over Federally funded Interstate Highways.
Energy policy is not just about oil. Federal programs in the Depression to build major dams like the Jensen Dam, TVA Project and the Grand Coulee Dam converted large fish bearing steams to energy systems. The rural electrification project strung power lines to out of the way areas. Similarly, the Atomic age brought about a boom in huge stations and later, some ill conceived nuclear power stations. US foreign policy was inexorably drawn into Middle East politics with the defence of oil producing Saudi Arabia and the sea lanes of the Gulf of Arabia. US troops have been there ever since Britain pulled out
of the Gulf in 1967.
The 1973 Oil Crises brought home the folly of profligate waste of energy. Oil prices doubled overnight; schools were unheated. Because of this energy became a hot topic. Alternate forms of energy and diversified oil supply resulted. The Federal Department of Energy was started. Also, the nation invested in natural gas technology, nuclear, and, more importantly, it took steps toward energy conservation. Speed limits were introduced on highways, car manufacturers were mandated to have better gas mileages for their products. Houses were better insulated, appliances became more energy efficient. Studies were issued, people put in wood stoves and hippies went back to the land. Alas, the volatile oil markets brought prices down again in the 1980s and people quickly forgot about the troubles of the 1970s. Speed limits were raised, houses and SUVs became bigger and the number of energy using gadgets multiplied. It was if the Oil Crises never happened. Anyone who has lived in an old house can recall trying to find enough power outlets to run today's gazillion gadgets, are reminded of how little electricity our forebearers used. Sadly, in all this the option of time to convert the nation's Energy Policy was frittered away.
There has been talk of converting the nation to a Hydrogen economy, where cars and factories are powered by fuel cells. Other plans include making society carbon neutral and use renewable energy. Things like solar, wind and methane sources have also been proposed.
So now the political debate is whether the nation will retain the 1950s oil based society, that we inherited and have not moved from, or do we move on to stable, home grown, and non-polluting energy.
These are measures used to produce an energy policy A national energy policy is comprised by set of measures involving that country's laws, treaties and agency directives. The energy policy of a sovereign nation may include one or more of the following measures: statement of national policy regarding energy generation, transmission and usage legislation on commercial energy activities (trading, transport, storage, etc.) legislation affecting energy use, such as efficiency standards, emission standards instructions for state owned energy sector assets and organizations active participation in, co-ordination of and incentives for mineral fuels exploration (see geological survey) and other energy-related research and development fiscal policies related to energy products and services (taxes, exemptions, subsidies ... international policy measures such as: international energy sector treaties and alliances, general international trade agreements, special relations with energy-rich countries, including military presence and/or domination. Frequently the dominant issue of energy policy is the risk of supply-demand mismatch (see: energy crisis). Current energy policies also address environmental issues (see: climate change). Some governments state explicit energy policy, but, declared or not, each government practices some type of energy policy.
see also
- Energy Policy Act of 2005
- Energy Policy Act of 1992
- 1978 - National Energy Act
- 1975 - Energy Policy and Conservation Act
One of the big problems of renewable energy was economics. With state invested hydrodams, power grid electricity was 10 cents a kilowatt. It was cheap. The same could be said when gasoline was a dollar a gallon. Funding alternatives like wind or solar, when solar panels cost $1000 per kilowatt was nonsensical. Today, however, the cost of solar panels and windmills have come down, and the nation's dams and electric grid are aging and need re-investing in. The deregulation of the electricity markets, New York and California blackouts, and the Enron debacle prove that there are problems.
And there is an underlying theme in that the economy of America is an oil economy. It is no wonder that four of the top five largest companies in America (Fortune 500), are oil and auto companies. Shifting the focus of the national economy, is a large undertaking.
So now with tax breaks for small, de-centralized micro generation, solar panels on roofs, Western deserts, the Great Plains micro windmills, the conversion of the energy supply is feasible.
Energy use is not a simple matter. Is also has to do with lifestyle, design of cities, zoning, building codes, market forces, a fickle public, and entrenched business interests. Business leaders whose industry depends on the sale of fossil fuels, will not stand by and watch the phase out of their lucrative industry. Indeed, they still demand tax breaks and the waiving of oil drilling royalties. Large energy companies have funded dubious research institutes to issue junk science reports to bolster investment in their industry.
America is self sufficient in coal. Indeed, it has several hundred years supply of it. As stated, America could get a large portion of its oil from coal if so desired. Most electricity in the US is generated from coal plants. Alas, coal is quixotic. It is fantastically cheap, yet it comes at a price of pollution and acid rain.
The hydrogen economy is also indirectly the coal economy, for to generate large volumes of H2, one needs electricity to electrolysise water. To get the electricity one must burn coal. The energy efficiency and pollution numbers for hydrogen are not favourable.
The ace in the deck of the energy spectra is nuclear power. It can yield large volumes of power, relatively cheaply and do so with few greenhouse gases. Presently, nuclear power is enjoying a rennaissance from Tehran to Three Mile Island. With political intervention, a large slice of the energy pie can be made from nuclear power as in France or Japan. Alas, these nations have had problems with there Super-Phoenix reactors. With no domestic oil production, France has relied heavily on the development of nuclear power, which now accounts for about 80% of that nation's needs. Nuclear fusion is also a possibility, but not for a few decades hence.
A large interest has recently been taken itwo biofuels that are derived from common agricultural staples or waste - ethanol and biodiesel. Biomass is fermented and distilled to yield the two-carbon primary alcohol ethanol. Blends containing 5-15% ethanol are available for use in regular cars and E85, an 85% mixture is compatible with specially designed or adapted vehicles. Vegetable oil is extracted from various fresh crops and waste oil recycled from food production to produce biodiesel, which has physical preperties similar to petrodiesel and can fuel an unmodified diesel engine or be blended with petrodiesel in any ratio to reach a mixture with specific properties.
These fuels reduce US expenditures on foreign oil, production can be entirely domestic. Raw material is utilized that would have otherwise been food supply surplus; land is used that would have been otherwise unproductive. Money that would otherwise end up in the middle east remains within the US and goes to the people and areas that need it - farmers in the midwest.
Plans have been made to supply up to 25% of American fuel needs with ethanol in the coming decades. However, biofuels require a large amount of land and are expensive to produce, so these renewable fuels can be used to augment, not replace fossil fuel consumption. It would be impossible for the US to produce enough biofuel to meet current energy use.
Although ethanol and biodiesel are hydrocarbon fuels intended for combustion much like fossil fuels, their use does not contribute to global warming directly. Being derived from photosynthetic plants, biofuel use is use is analogous to running cars on solar energy. The carbon contained in these fuels is atmospheric CO2 before the plant is grown, serves as a short term chemical storage medium for solar energy, then is released back into the atmosphere as C02 upon combustion.
The direct contribution of biofuel use to atmospheric CO2 is zero, however currently much of the energy used during the production of biofuels is sourced from fossil fuels. This results in a net contribution to CO2 that is unfortunate, but still far lower than fossil fuel.
- See Oil Use in the US
- volatile oil prices
- increasing world demand
- increasing domestic consumption
- falling US production
The US consumes 15 million barrels of gasoline each day, 365 days of the year. Diesel fuel is needed on top of that figure.
The USA has about 25 billion barrels reserves while consuming about 7.5 billion barrels per year. This has created pressure for previously reserved locations in places such as ANWR to be opened up for drilling.
Electricity: production: 3,892 TerraWatthours (2003) (or 3800 million megawatts)
Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 71.4% hydro: 5.6% nuclear: 20.7% other: 2.3% (2001)
Oil: production: 7.61 million barrel/day (2005 est.) consumption: 20.03 million barrel/day (2003 est.)
