Is a Clean Energy Future Within Reach?
Is A Clean Energy Future Within Reach? What does the future hold for America’s energy needs? Will we survive our precarious dependence on foreign oil and how will it affect the planet? According to the Obama administration, “We need to deploy American assets, innovation, and technology so that we can safely and responsibly develop more energy here at home and be a leader in the global energy economy.” Is the Administration up to the task of elevating America to be the global leader in innovation and consumption of alternative energy? The President has changed and improved many of America’s energy policies but their current road is not enough to bring this country to where we need to be for a cleaner and more secure energy future. The American Energy Innovation Council, made up of seven of the top CEOs and business leaders in America, such as Bill Gates, Foundation and Chairman of Microsoft, Norman Augustine, former Chairman of Lockheed Martin and Former Undersecretary of the Army, released a plan in a meeting at the White House in 2010 calling Congressional leaders to urgent action. Their report “A Business Plan for America’s Energy Future” summarizes that “in defense, health, agriculture, and information technology industries, this country has made a deliberate choice to use intelligent federal investments to unleash profound innovations. As a result, the country leads in all those realms. In energy, however, the United States has failed the grade, and is paying a heavy price for that failure.” The Problems they list are; faltering economic competitiveness, direct economic costs of constrained energy choices, national security (oil importing), and environmental dangers from pollution and climate change. They point out in their conclusion that “There is no way to make the progress this country requires on energy technology without increasing RD&D (Research, Development and Deployment) budgets”. The report goes on to list 5 clear and
Cited: AEIC. (2010). Web. 16 May 2013. AEIC. (2010). Web. 16 May 2013. Garber, Kent. “A Jolt For Energy Innovation.” U.S. News & World Report 147.4 (2010): 44. The White House. (2013). Web. 15 May 2013.