Barak Obama, and to only a slightly lesser extent, John McCain, are on the campaign trail promising cheap, magic energy for all. From the National Post:
Barack Obama on Tuesday vowed he would break America’s addiction to “dirty, dwindling, and dangerously expensive” oil if he is elected U.S. president — and one of his first targets might well be Canada’s oil sands.
A senior adviser to Mr. Obama’s campaign told reporters it’s an “open question” whether oil produced from northern Alberta’s oilsands fits with the Democratic candidate’s plan to shift the U.S. sharply away from consumption of carbon-intensive fossil fuels.
…
“The possibilities of renewable energy are limitless,” Mr. Obama said in an energy policy speech Tuesday in Las Vegas. “We’ve heard promises about it in every State of the Union [speech] for the last three decades. But each and every year, we become more, not less, addicted to oil — a 19th-century fossil fuel that is dirty, dwindling, and dangerously expensive.”
While it’s true that there is less oil today than yesterday, it is not dwindling. There are more oil resources in North America, in the form of oil sands and oil shale, than there is in Saudi Arabia. We also have vast supplies of oil and natural gas on the outer continental shelf, but Mr. Obama and his friends have fought to restrict access to those domestic resources. Unsurprisingly after years of constraining our supply, we now have tight supply and high prices. Thank you Mr. Obama. The policies you support are the very ones driving up the price of energy.
Oil might be dirtier than natural gas, but it is also less expensive for personal transportation. Does Obama not support personal transportation? Oil emits less greenhouse gases than current biofuel technology, so you can argue that it is cleaner than biofuel. And oil is cheaper than biofuel, allowing lower income people to afford to buy and use it.
In opposition to oil, but does Obama support? Biofuel of course. Unsurprisingly the NY Times reports that Obama is in the pocket of Big Ethanol. If Obama were thoughtful, if Obama were for real change, he would be concerned about the outcomes of the policies he supports. Some people rightly call biofuel a “crime against humanity.” Others say that it is increasing poverty.
The possibilities of renewable energy, like the possibilities of absolutely anything are limitless. When I want to drive my car I don’t want it to be a mere possibility the the station will have gas. I want there to be a high probability the station will have gas.
Someday renewables might make sense, but today we are throwing money away and making people poorer as a result. When will Obama support real change and end this tragic waste?
