Energy Plan for the Nation An Answer to Foreign Fossil Fuel Dependency Jones and Associates Sarah Jones Assetou Barry John Fritz Laura Meza.

Energy Plan for the Nation

An Answer to Foreign Fossil Fuel Dependency

Jones and Associates Sarah Jones

Assetou Barry

John Fritz

Laura Meza

Overview

• Need for action• Immediate Alternatives• Renewable Energy• Political Obstacles and Strategies• Concrete Benefits

Need For Action

• Oil production in the USA has declined by 60% • Global oil production is at or near peak• Renewables remain less than 1%• 2/3 of US energy comes from oil (2/3 of which

comes from abroad) and gas. The rest is mostly coal

Energy Consumption

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China USA Japan France Brazil Russia

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per capita

CO2 Emissions

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China USA Japan France Brazil Russia

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Per capita

Need for Action

• Geopolitics of oil and natural gas, distorted foreign policy

Need for Action

• Strengthen international ties by helping international regime building

• National power-US should lead renewable technology trend

Immediate Alternatives

• Fuel Diversification• Clean Coal• Agricultural fuel crops• Nuclear energy

Renewable Energy Advantages

• Reduce our dependence on foreign oil• Allows military to focus on core mission• Lessen the effects of global climate change• Create a new market in which the United States

could exert influence• Increase our energy options • Protect the US economy

Types of Renewable Energy

• Hydrogen• Wind• Solar• Geothermal• Biomass

Investing in Renewable Energy • Investing $180 billion

over the next decade to eliminate oil dependence can save $130 billion gross, every year by 2025

• This saving can replace today’s $10-billion-a-month oil imports with domestic reinvestment

Investing in Renewable Energy• Should encourage more efficient energy usage• Should institute a carbon tax on high carbon

emitters such as coal plants• Subsidies for energy should reflect the future

energy market• Should increase subsidies to renewable sources • Should decrease subsidies to coal and oil

companies

Political Obstacles and Strategies• Coal Lobby

• Coal generates more than half of the electricity used in the United States

• Invest in clean coal technologies so they can continue to have a percentage of the market

• Develop new gasification methods (Nebraska)

Political Obstacles and Strategies

• Oil Lobby• Invest in automotive efficiency, hybrids

still use oil• Big oil can transition to big hydrogen

Political Obstacles and Strategies

• Other Opponents• Frame issue as a national security threat• Middle East is unstable and our future cannot

be tied to its future

Concrete Benefits

• By 2015, the early steps in this proposed transition will have saved as much oil as the U.S. gets from the Persian Gulf

• By 2040, oil imports could be gone.

• By 2050, the U.S. economy should be flourishing with no oil at all