Is a National Energy Policy Possible?

Bill Opalka | Mar 08, 2010

 

If you were a teenager or older in the 1970s, the term "national energy policy" was something you heard quite often and then probably forgot about for 20 years or so. We experienced long gas lines - twice - and after the dust settled after the Iranian Revolution, didn't need to think about energy until the 2003 Great Northeast blackout.

If you're younger than that, you might have heard about it in the past few years, or maybe sooner if your parents were very desperate to have something to talk about.

I've been thinking a lot about this recently, especially after the EnergyBiz Leadership Forum last week in Washington D.C.

Think of the paragons of "national energy policy," the envy of the industrial world. Pick a spot on the ideological spectrum, though that really doesn't work in the exercise. France "gets it," we're told, because that country committed to an ambitious nuclear program that's netted it 80 percent of its electricity needs. Denmark "gets it" with 20 percent of its juice coming from onshore and offshore wind.

The biggest problem I see with comparing the United States to France or Denmark is that these countries are many things we are not: culturally homogenous, smaller than  the U.S., and their economies are not as diverse as ours. There's also the "benefit" of having their infrastructure revamped over the past 50 to 60 years by rebuilding from a continent-wide war.

Think of one policy piece in the United States -- renewable energy -- and you'll notice 29 states with 29 different sets of mandates. A few of the rest have "goals" and others have none at all, or will have one imposed if Congress passes an energy bill. Look at the other cornerstones of a national policy: transmission, energy efficiency, nuclear development, fossil fuel emissions, and passage of a national energy policy looks like an impossible task. Unless you want the healthcare model repeated.
 
I was discussing this last week in the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA) offices last week. I opined that the U.S. was just too large and diverse and with too many competing interests to develop a coherent national policy in the way that proponents of one would like. And besides, what would really go into one?

"We're not very good at thinking long-term and we always seem to be one event from a major crisis," was the way GEA Executive Director Karl Gawell put it. He conceded my point about U.S. diversity as we returned to our original topic of what Congress and the federal government might do about renewable energy this year. The short answer: nobody has a clue. And if that's consensus about one piece, what can possibly be done about all the other moving parts of energy policy?

The editorial staff at RenewablesBiz.com is passionate about exchanging ideas and dedicated to promoting ongoing conversation about renewables and sustainable energy issues.  We invite you to join and contribute to our online community. If you have an idea for an article or editorial contribution, please contact me via email, bopalka@energycentral.com, or phone, 860.633.0090.