What do you think of Obama's 'clean energy nation' plan?

Question

The three main components of Obama’s plan are:

— Get 1 million 150 mile-per-gallon plug-in hybrids on U.S. roads within six years.

— Require that 10 percent of U.S. energy comes from renewable sources by the end of his first term – more than double the current level.

—Reduce U.S. demand for electricity 15 percent by 2020.

“If I am president, I will immediately direct the full resources of the federal government and the full energy of the private sector to a single, overarching goal — in 10 years, we will eliminate the need for oil from the entire Middle East and Venezuela,” Obama said.

“To do this, we will invest $150 billion over the next 10 years and leverage billions more in private capital to build a new energy economy that harnesses American energy and creates 5 million new American jobs.”

To set an example, Obama is vowing to convert the entire White House fleet to plug-in hybrid vehicles within one year, and convert all federal vehicle purchases to plug-in hybrids or all-electric by 2012.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080804/pl_politico/12280

What do you think of this plan?

Answer 1

Nowhere in there do I see how he's going to address the actual problem, lowering the prices.  Everything you stated he will do will cost more and barely make a dent in energy demand reduction. Not to mention, he's going to force private enterprise to adhere to wasteful feel-good policies.  We already have too many of those.  This is a matter of economics.  Our country runs on oil, no question about it.  Right now, demand outweighs supply meaning, we need to increase supply to balance it out and lower the price.  We need more oil, not more costly mandates requiring things the market doesn't demand.  Don't you think if people were demanding expensive 150-mpg hybrids, car companies would already have done it?  Of course, but hybrids are already too costly so the ones that will surely be even more expensive are not in demand, so what sense does it make to force the market to go a direction it doesn't desire?  None.  All it will do in increase costs across the board which will be passed on to the consumer.

Answer 2

i think its good that hes atleast trying to do something other than just make billions of dollars like Bush did.

&& atleast hes not being ignorant to the fact the we are facing global warming

Answer 3

Not even close to enough.

"— Get 1 million 150 mile-per-gallon plug-in hybrids on U.S. roads within six years. "

Might be a worthwhile improvement (and if energy is cheap as well as clean, say from nuclear power people might not even need coercion or much in the way of subsidies to switch).

"— Require that 10 percent of U.S. energy comes from renewable sources by the end of his first term – more than double the current level."

Current level is 8.5% so it isn't more than double unless hydro is removed.

Even so wind and ground based solar still require fossil fuel backup so they aren't the solution (and should not be built until improvements in large scale energy storage come about).

A better way to one up McCain would be to propose 450 new reactors instead of only 45 (realistically Obama will probably end up doing something like that once he's in power).

Increases in the cost of emitting CO2 will also help a lot, especially where viable alternatives exist.

Answer 4

If he can do everything that he said above then it would help the country in ways we can't even imagine.  The only true problem becomes putting that into action.  I don't mean that from his end but more from the fact that he will be stonewalled whenever he makes the first move.  This is the kind of things we NEED to hear from the presidential candidates.  The years of Bush have set our country back so far that so many other countries are passing us by.  Its time our leaders start listening to the people and realize that these environmental issues are extremely important.  Hopefully they will soon realize that if they fix these environmental issues the social, econimc and political issues will improve greatly.  By cutting our dependence on foreign oil we can help our economic situation as well as out international and political stand because we will no longer be slaves to the Middle East.  This is what we need.  Now all we need is the action behind the words.

I think the goals he states are what the country needs and most importantly they are REASONABLE given the time frame

Answer 5

Just wait a day or two and he will have a different answer, Obama flip-flops more than a gaffed fish in the bottom of a boat!

A lot of what Obama wants to do will cost lots of money and most likely lower our productivity.  Anyone who wants to lessen the importance of America in the world and to punish America then he's the guy to do it!  

Everything has consequences.  Hybrid cars also have batteries that pollute and the production of those batteries is dangerous.

Just today I heard that he wants to rid our reliance on foreign oil in ten years, how are we going to do that without new drilling for oil in "sacred, forbidden" areas?  Wind power and Solar power require wind and sunshine - when the sun ain't shining and the wind ain't blowing you don't get squat!   There are no batteries available today that can hold enough power to service a city when power production is off.   Our nuclear power plants and refineries will be 10 years older when this grand scheme comes to fruition - then what will we do without building new nuclear power plants or new oil refineries??  

The only way we are going to reduce our demand for electricity is to destroy our economy, put people out of work or have more manual labor and also have a zero growth rate!

Yeah, plug in hybrid all electric cars driven by the Secret Service  and police - yeah sure we will!

Obama will say anything to get elected, not a day goes by where he doesn't condemn the US for something!    

Answer 6

Like all of Obama's plans, he sells to the blathering idiots. I have yet to see a plan of his that has been thought out. He states that drilling for oil will take at least 7 years, but developing new technology, building the infrastructure to support it, and getting it to market in a cost effective way can be done within his first term? The guy looks good on tv (as long as the sound is turned off). Unfortunately, many people are willing to buy the suit and ignore the ideas.

Answer 7

The renewable goal should be extended a bit - - it takes a long time to conduct the wind studies to validate a site, and then to build the wind farm.    

Answer 8

I think this belongs in the political forum, and all politician have one plan first to get elected and then to get re-elected.  

Answer 9

One of your answers said that the plan doesn't address the central problem of "bringing down gas prices."

The central problem of identifying gas prices as the central problem is that if prices go down, we become complacent and go right back to the consumption levels we had when prices were low before.

I absolutely understand the pain involved in high prices for gasoline, but the energy consumption problem is so much larger than the individual wallet.  In traditional economic analysis, we have a tendency to ignore any "costs" that are not bottom line or personal wallet factors.  The cost of failing to curb our energy consumption or to change the source of the energy we do consume has been put off to another  individual, another country, or even another generation.  The generation that will most suffer from the oil based US economy isn't the generation that established the oil based economy or the one that continued it after the easing of the oil embargoes of the 1970's.

Another poster said that alternatives will take longer than 4 years and implied that "drilling as the cure"  will take fewer than 7.  In point of fact, hybrids are on the market now.  In point of fact, all electrics like the Volt are scheduled to be available in less than a year and a half.  

"What do you think of this plan?"

I don't have any quick response to the plan because I have not studied it fully yet, but my first impressions are that it is, finally, a serious attempt to wean our nation from the international oil pipeline, and the only serious attempt to address our long-term impact on the world economy and climate.  The devil is always in the details, and the problems are extremely complicated, but if we DON"T address the problem and instead continue to attempt to "drill our way out of the problem," we will get the same impact we got after the last oil shortage scare...and that was more of the same rather than the brilliant solutions we are capable of devising and are in absolute need of devising.

As the saying goes, if you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.

Answer 10

It's about time.

Answer 11

Easy to say, but much harder to do.  Gets lots of applause but just exactly does he plan on accomplishing this?  Anyone can say what they would like to do.  He might as well say "I'm going to end world hunger and wars within 2 years of my presidency."  Liberals are all about feelings, what they would like to do, like to see happen.  

Your last point he made about investing $150 Billion!!!!...invest it where?  In what?  What does he mean "invest"?  If it were profitable for industry to use alternative fuels don't you think they would have already?  Oh...hasn't he flip-floped again and now he's in favor of drilling in the US?

Answer 12

So pretty much has plan is to force people to buy hybrid cars, pay more for energy than they already have to pay.  And some how force/confuse Americans into using less electricity.  Hows he going to do this by brainwashing people.  In short his plan will never work because he is yet again trying to force too much change way to quickly.  Things like these need to happen over a broader amount of time and people have to be willing to accept the changes.  I also love his line about forcing the private section into doing his biding god I love democracy

Answer 13

He's a lier too, from his web site

Reduce Carbon Emissions 80 Percent by 2050

Cap and Trade: Obama supports implementation of a market-based cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions by the amount scientists say is necessary: 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Obama's cap-and-trade system will require all pollution credits to be auctioned. A 100 percent auction ensures that all polluters pay for every ton of emissions they release, rather than giving these emission rights away to coal and oil companies. Some of the revenue generated by auctioning allowances will be used to support the development of clean energy, to invest in energy efficiency improvements, and to address transition costs, including helping American workers affected by this economic transition.

That means we will use the same oil/coal as in 1910, do you want to live like that

Answer 14

The plan is nice, but will he get it enacted?  It's the same old "song and dance" with every politician, "I vow to do this", then nothing is done or they are blocked by the House and/or Senate.  The set date for the plug-in hybrids is a bit short, he should make that within the next decade.  If he is elected and re-elected, by the time he is out of office there will be no way to stop the trend.  So it would be better to stretch it to a decade to keep costs lower.

Think about it though, we will be buying these hybrids from Japan (most likely).  Can Japan produce that many while still maintaining their sales in other countries and still maintain their "home country" sales?  Or, will the US government grant money to Ford or GM to produce these vehicles?

If he develops a method to complete this without taking any of the citizen's money (taxes), then it will be great.  Lets wait and see.

EDIT-it cracks me up.  I get a "thumbs down" and I didn't even state anything against the question or global warming.  Shows how spiteful and immature some people are.

Answer 15

The real answer -- and we all should be asking

HOW MUCH IS THIS GOING TO COST ME....