Energy Policy?

That I’d throw out a little blurb today, see if I can’t get some sort of response.

Have been watching the two US presidential candidates, from a distance it must be told, but my general impressions on these two is that they both seem able to articulate any coherent ideas on America’s reliance on oil as a carbon-energy based economy. These are pressing times, and regardless of your opinions on global warming and climate change in general, oil is a finite, and increasingly expensive commodity, and real plans need to be made in regards this issue.

The best idea I’ve heard so far was from Mccain, and his call for a 300 million dollar award for a better car battery, which along with new advances in electric car technology, could seriously cut into the country’s reliance on the internal combustion engine. I suppose the next step is figure new ways to produce that electricity, but perhaps more well-placed government initiated financial awards could speed up this process.

I wonder if the government can’t play a meaningful role in the re-orientation of the economy away from fossil fuels to other, more sustainable sources of energy. It is interesting to note that in the past two years the price of a barrel of oil has doubled, while at the same time climate change has risen to an issue of prominence in the minds of the public. The market seems to be reacting to peoples fears, which in turn is providing financial incentive towards alternatives to oil. With awards such as that mentioned above, without actually being invasive or controlling which would sound the death knell for any well-intentioned picking and choosing of winners, markets, might react faster, primarily in North America where the technology and wherewithal to follow through on something like this post-fossil fuel shift we are starting to really see take shape is most easily accessible. Markets, again, are not organic organisms, but rather reflections of human needs, desires, and interactions. And as such, can be steered.

Generalized awards, for example, to produce a marketable, and mass-producable zero-emissions car that could be sold around the world, could spur the innovation needed to help not only the USA reduce its reliance on oil, but more importantly, help the developing world leap frog the highly toxic industrialization process that took place throughout the west and is now occurring in China, and to some degree India.

Just some thoughts to mull over and comment upon.