Posted by Dahcredyns in
Hybrid Cars,
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Object on 03 20th, 2012 |
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Is cheap gas synonymous with energy security and independence?
Is cheaper energy the goal to US energy independence? Mitt Romney attacks “gas hike trio” For a long time I was a big advocate of the gas tax. Higher gasoline prices seemed the only way to push consumers towards embracing fuel efficiency. However, it’s obvious that gasoline taxes are a combustible political issue, and just not the path to energy independence. Voters just won’t allow it. And Mitt Romney is trying to use this reality to attack the Obama administration over higher gasoline prices and related rhetoric, but should gasoline prices be the focus of energy policy? More to the point, is cheap gasoline, or energy, synonymous with energy security and US energy independence? Certainly, it is true that the Secretary of Energy, the Secretary of the Interior and the EPA administrator — the gas hike trio — have suggested the need for higher energy prices to help shape consumer behavior, just as I did in the past. However, I think they’d argue that long term, they were also concurrently offering technologies that would offset these higher costs. Anyway, I’d like to ask Mitt Romney if he believes that cheap gasoline is the best path to US energy security and independence and, subsequently, what’s the best path to long term cheap energy. Oddly enough, I’ve come to believe that cheap energy is the path to energy independence. That’s right, is. However, unlike Mitt — I’m assuming — I believe that sustainable long term cheaper energy prices are completely dependent upon innovation and technology, not just natural resources. While I can agree with Mitt that ‘drill, baby, drill’ is a part of the equation, I don’t believe that a singular focus on drilling is the key to either cheap energy or energy independence. In fact, I’d argue it’s the antithesis of sustainable, cheap energy. Even the oil and natural gas renaissance in the US today is the result of technological innovations, not just tapping into natural resources. That same innovative mentality will also lead to technologies that reduce the need for oil and natural gas, cost-effectively. In fact, today, it can be argued that such technologies are already cost-effective in many situations, if we think long...