The People's Energy Policy - Where's the Federal Government?

State legislatures from Florida to Idaho initiated renewable energy legislation this past week, and last week Congress sent a major revision to the federal tax code to the Senate that would shift $1.8 billion of tax credits for production and conservation measures from Big Oil to Average Man. These revisions would take the production credits away each year over ten years from Big Oil and give them to individuals to install solar, geothermal, and wind power generation, as well as for upgrading their appliances to more efficient models that meet the 2007 guidelines for energy usage.

Apparently the American people have the will to stop their addiction to oil, at least on the state level. And President Bush has already promised a veto to restructuring the tax code.

Are any of the candidates for President listening? Will the leader of the Republican Party, President George W. Bush, finally pay attention to the swelling support for these types of programs during an election year? Will the Republican Party continue sitting with its head in the sand, and continue on the reckless path of reliance on foreign oil?

Grassroots support for advancing renewable energy installations, both large scale and by the individual, is spreading rapidly around the country, as the nation is forced to increase its reliance on foreign sources for oil and natural gas. With gasoline hovering in the $3 per gallon range for over a year, consumers are finally responding to the higher fuel prices, with gasoline consumption in 2007 falling for the first time in nearly a quarter of a century.

And where in the United States on a coherent and cohesive set of policies and research initiatives to rapidly develop and deploy renewable energy sources?

The answer is - nobody knows.

It would seem logical that the Department of Energy would be the candidate for leading the charge and coordinating the various aspects of moving away from a carbon-combustion based energy supply, with its heavy reliance on foreign petrochemicals creating a massive and gaping hole in the country's security. And DoE does devote a significant amount of its resources to the effort. Tens of billions a year in research initiatives.

But the DoE apparently has no clue what is being done by the Defense Department. DoE has no oversight or monitoring of Department of Agriculture programs that are pushing agri-based biomass systems such as ethanol-production, and is totally disengaged from the funds being spent by the National Science Foundation.

And those are just the tip of the iceberg, energy research programs are in the budgets of a variety of different cabinet-level departments, with some working at odds with each other, and others duplicating efforts. Nobody knows how much is being wasted. Nobody has created a platform for synergy between these programs.

Why is the Federal Trade Commission twiddling its thumbs while the money spigot continues to siphon off America's wealth and send it to our ideological enemies in the Middle East? Why is the State Department silent and ignoring the massive environmental disaster that is being built in China with its old-form coal-fired power plants being built at a rate of 1 per month, so Chinese industry can continue the ever-increasing flow of cheap goods into the American economy?

When will the Federal Reserve enter into the picture, and give preferential lending authority to banks who provide low-cost consumer loans for installation of renewable energy systems in individual homes?

The United States taxpayer has spent nearly $1 trillion dollars in Iraq since 2003. That is nearly $33,000 per person. That is nearly $80,000 per household.

Imagine where we would be instead if that money had been invested in the installation of solar capture technologies to create electricity. Imagine every home with a set of small-scale wind turbines simultaneously to improve reliability of the homeowner generating their own electricity. Imagine a nation where every household had switched to a geothermal heat pump to provide heating and cooling. Imagine every appliance in every household replaced so that all of them were 95% efficient in their use of electricity.

Here's a breakdown of the prices for a typical home:

Solar panels and battery system for 2,000 square foot home: $25,000

Small-scale wind turbines, (4) needed for same home: $16,000

Geothermal heat pump: $ 5,000

Household appliances: $ 4,000

TOTAL$50,000

That leaves $30,000 - per household - for further research into improving existing technologies. Getting those battery systems so they are reliable and low cost. Improving transmission capacity so loads are distributed evenly. Capturing the excess energy being produced when both the solar panels and turbines are operating simultaneously for industrial use.

Will the federal government reflect the will of the people - or continue to reflect the need for greed by their fat cat campaign contributors?