Fossil Fuel Free by 2023

The left is losing the green discussion. Progressives are already heavily invested in renewable energy, and that is not a bad thing.

But progressives are losing the political center. Last summer, your Wandering Gentile proposed the concept of “Defensive Energy Autonomy Legislation.” The idea is simple. Fossil fuels make America vulnerable to countries that are not likely to act in the best interests of Americans.

It really does not matter which country with oil is acting. There are enough despots on both sides of the authoritarian spectrum to be of concern to everyone.

So what is the easiest solution? Quit using oil! The time to start was nine years ago, but was hindered by an administration with ties to an industry which needs to become as relevant as typewriter repairmen.

This is not a hard sell. Where did the money for the aviation lessons for 9/ 11 come from? It isn’t exactly like al Qaeda was using Terror Scout cookies to pay for it. This was oil money. Petroleum supports terrorism, period.

The first objective is simple. Take steps to help every home and business in America become a net producer of renewable energy. This is a goal which is possible with technology existing today.

The effect of this upon the economy would be spectacular. There would be a need for twenty million new jobs to manufacture, transport, install, maintain, and recycle renewable energy solutions. Even if one million petroleum workers were displaced, there would be jobs to replace those incomes.

Second, but not secondary is the cumulative effect of individuals becoming masters of their energy, as opposed to utility providers and oil companies. When transportation passed from the hands of the private railroads to the automobile a century ago, the new industry fueled spectacular economic growth.

Most people over 18 appreciate the revolution of information technology, and the subsequent boom in the economy under President Clinton.

Making energy an individual ownership as opposed to a collective commodity would also spur massive economic growth.

A few days ago, we celebrated the 41st anniversary of Apollo 11 landing on the moon. In 1961, when President Kennedy put forth the idea that Americans would land on the moon by 1970, America was behind the Soviets in space exploration.

The idea that the United States would pull ahead of the Soviet Union was no less farfetched than the idea that the United States can be fossil fuel free in 13 years sounds now. But it will require the same kind of commitment that the Apollo program required in the sixties.

One believes that America is still the country of The Right Stuff.

We begin with a commitment that every square inch of government roof is covered with solar panels. This opens the market for research and development. It also jump-starts mass production.

At the moment, solar is accessible to the affluent. What happens when solar goes from US$20,000 to US$2,000 per household? When development improves the efficiency of solar to support the heating, cooling, cleaning, and cooking needs of any home at less than the cost of a year of commercially generated electricity?

Kids, TRY THIS AT HOME!

Finally, with energy from renewable sources supplanting commercially generated electricity, a point will come where some of the science fiction aspects of renewable energy could become reality. Compressed hydrogen fuel cells might go from tax-subsidized parity with gasoline and diesel to the equivalent of fifty cents a gallon.

Oh yes, there would be a few more benefits, like reduced pollution, the effective end of petrodespots, and exports of technology to other countries who already know us and respect us as a fair and honest broker.

President Obama was right when he discussed leadership in renewable energy as a boon for the United States. Our objective is to equate the end of an archaic technology with the same honorable patriotic motivations as the space program.

The objective is not to deprive our compatriots of a living from work in the petroleum industry. The desire is to assure that American exceptionalism be preserved from the interests which threaten liberty through terrorism, environmental destruction, and the ability to control the flow of energy which sustains our nation’s standard of living.

The time is right. Right now.