How do Barack Obama and John McCain measure up on energy policy?
Are you still undecided about which box to check on November 4th? While all the back-and-forth about lipstick, Joe the Plumber, ACORN, and hockey moms continues, the least we can do here is cut through the muck and add some clarity to the candidates’ policies in the arena we know best: energy.
Common ground
The good news is that both candidates intend to reshape America’s energy supply quickly and thoroughly. And both vow to attack climate change and our dependency on fossil-fuels as soon as they enter office. It’s very exciting that both Senator McCain and Senator Obama mentioned solar energy several times during the first presidential debate. In their third debate last week, both candidates stressed that America is beholden to the countries that export energy to us. We are in dire need of national energy independence. As Senator Obama said, we need to save the “money we’re borrowing from China to send to Saudi Arabia.”
Both McCain and Obama recognize that our country needs a diversified energy portfolio which favors renewable energy and relies less on fossil fuels. They both want to remake how we fuel transportation.
They both want to dramatically reduce US greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century through a cap-and-trade system. And both candidates see that America needs to stop dithering around and lead the global fight against climate change.
Reshaping the power grid
Senator Obama is calling for a federal renewable portfolio standard (RPS) that would require the entire nation to produce 10% of its electricity from renewable sources – including solar – by 2012. Numerous states have already adopted RPS requirements. Senator McCain does not support a federal RPS and thinks this matter should be left to the states. McCain wants to see technology upgrades that make energy metering more efficient, and both candidates support increased energy efficiency across the power grid. According to the Obama campaign, America is the 22nd most energy efficient nation among the major economies in the world. It is high time for our power grid to be updated from its early 20th century roots.
Going nuclear and unearthing clean coal
Both candidates envision a power grid that emits less carbon by supporting nuclear energy and carbon-capture clean coal technology. While both nuclear and zero-carbon coal are good in theory as far as emissions are concerned, both technologies nonetheless present significant drawbacks. Even though Senator McCain said carbon-capture “clean coal technology is key in the heartland of American”, clean coal is still on the drawing board and might not ever be economically feasible. Nuclear power contains at least one pesky problem: as a nation, we do not have a secure facility or definitive strategy for dealing with nuclear waste, nor is scaling up nuclear an easy proposition. For example, the last nuclear plant to be built in the US took 24 years to construct, and cost $7 billion.
Big Coal and Big Nuclear, I suspect, might have more influence over our candidates’ support of these technologies than does economic, political, and environmental feasibility.
Fueling transportation
Both McCain and Obama sing the praises of hybrid, flex-fuel, plug-in hybrid, and pure electric vehicles. Obama wants to put one million plug-in hybrids on the road by 2015, which would represent half a percent of passenger vehicles. McCain proposes a $300 million prize to entice entrepreneurs to develop a better car battery, and wants to offer a $5,000 tax credit to Americans who buy a zero-emissions vehicle. Of course, you need to be wealthy enough to buy such a car in the first place, and have a personal tax liability that’s large enough to claim the credit. Obama thinks all cars should conform to higher fuel efficiency standards, and that all new cars built in the US should be flex-fuel – that is, able to run on ethanol as well as traditional gasoline. On the ethanol issue, McCain wants to roll back subsidies for domestic producers and drop the current tariff on ethanol imports from big producers such as Brazil. However, McCain has long opposed raising auto efficiency standards – and even failed to show up to vote on raising them in 2007.
Phew. There are a lot of things to consider when it comes to the US auto and automotive fuel industries. But we can all be certain that both Detroit and the new White House will need to collaborate extensively, as average gasoline prices continue to rise above $4/gallon.
Protecting the environment
Numerous economists and policymakers argue that a cap-and-trade approach to regulating greenhouse gas emissions is the best way to incentivize polluters to change their dirty ways. Additionally, a cap-and-trade system encourages significant investment in clean energy technologies, and creates jobs as a result. Under a cap-and-trade system, polluters are issued permits which allow a certain amount of emissions. This worked successfully to clean up acid rain emissions in the US with the Clean Air Act of 1990. If they don’t need to use them, they can sell them to heavy polluters at a profit. Obama wants 100% of pollution permits issued under the cap-and-trade system to be sold through an auction format, which means that polluters will need to cough up serious money to have the right to pollute, regardless of their pollution history, be it dreadful or otherwise. McCain wants to give pollution permits away from the outset, requiring no initial cost to major polluters. There are differing opinions on which approach – auction or giveaway - provides the best economic incentive to businesses to reduce pollution.
Obama’s cap-and-trade goals are more aggressive than McCain’s – Obama wants US greenhouse gas emissions to be 80% below 1990 levels by 2050, whereas McCain wants to reduce them to 60% below 1990 levels by 2050.
Shining a light on solar?
Of course we encourage both candidates to look at all the costs associated with their energy plans, and especially in determining which costs will fall on the energy industry as opposed to consumers. When it comes to electricity production, the president should implement policies that protect the environment and reduce costs for consumers. As Senator Obama said, “some have compared the quest for energy independence to the Manhattan Project or the Apollo moon landing.”
When it comes to solar, the records are pretty clear. Senator McCain failed to show up for eight crucial votes to extend renewable energy tax credits in the past year, whereas Obama voted three times to extend the credits.
It’s a tall order to overhaul the system, but we’re living in the greatest country in the world at a turning point in our nation’s history. And we know that solar is a responsible solution – financially and environmentally.