10/07/08   Energy Diversity Equals Security

By Peter Forman
Published: October 07, 2008
New York—America's transportation energy sector is a one-legged stool. To play on Henry Ford's expression, "You can power your car with anything you want, as long as it is gasoline."  This has led to the national security risk and economic weakness.  Using the news industry as an analogy, there are thousands upon thousands of sources and mediums from which we can get our news.  These mediums include newspapers, magazines, television, radio, and the Internet--and each one has untold purveyors of news.  This diversity creates healthy competition as the different news publishers vie for our eyeballs.  And news providers risk their resources in the hopes of profit--which results in better and cheaper products for the consumer.

If we were to wake up tomorrow with only one medium for news we would go to grab our proverbial pitchforks.  Yet that situation is exactly what we accept for our transportation energy needs. 

We must infuse this same level of diversity and competition into the transportation energy sector.

· It would reduce the power of foreign cartels,

· reduce our dependence on a handful of countries that don't like us and who manipulate the price of oil,

· shrink the hidden "tax" on our economy that oil and gas have become,

· create new industries and jobs at home,

· and allow our foreign policy to focus on terror and economic cooperation--rather than securing sources to and protecting regions with oil.

 

How do we get there?

1)   Pass the Open Fuel Standards Act of 2008 which will require auto manufacturers, for the modest cost of $100/vehicle, (via a modification of the fuel lines and computer chips), to run any mix of gasoline, methanol, butanol, or any of sugar, cane, or cellulosic ethanol.    

         a. Currently we have a chicken and egg problem.  People don't really

             want to purchase flex-fuel cars because there is nowhere to fill-

             up.    

         b. Gas stations don't want to invest in selling these bio-fuels since few

             cars can run on it.    

         c. In the short-run, there is nothing bigger than we can do to

             reintroduce competition to the transportation energy

             sector.  Imagine pulling into a gas station with these fuel choices.

2)   Transitioning towards electric vehicles.  The electric grid is already a diversified source of energy, 98% of it is produced from domestic sources, and it is substantially cleaner than internal combustion engines.   

         a. Electric energy today is produced by consuming:          

                  i.            coal, 49%          

                  ii.           nuclear, 19%          

                  iii.          natural gas, 21.5%          

                  iv.          hydroelectric, solar, wind  8.5%          

                  v.           and oil (only) 2%.
 

The role of the government should NOT be to pick technology solutions or "the" fuel for us to use.

Rather it should be, through tax and administrative policy, to create a business landscape in which private industry is motivated (profit incented) to invest in and fight for transportation sector energy market share--to create an environment where private industry "dukes it out" to the benefit of the consumers.

A diverse transportation energy sector (like the diverse electricity energy sector) will lead to national security, economic strength, and a cleaner environment.

It is time for flex fuels.

It is time for electric vehicles.

It is time to move beyond oil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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