Congressional candidates should support real solutions to American’s energy problems

By Alana Stmas (IPIRG) and Rob Sargent (U.S. PIRG).

This is being sent out to Editorial Boards Across the State Encouraging them to support candidates that want to improve our energy policies. Please pass this on to your local editorial board.

We hope you will consider an editorial calling for candidates to support the goals of Iowa PIRG’s New Energy Future Campaign by supporting policies that reduce our dependence on oil, harness clean, renewable, homegrown energy sources, save energy, and invest in energy-saving and renewable energy technologies.

With war in the Middle East, volatile oil and gas prices, and growing concern about global warming, America’s energy future will be a key issue in the Congressional elections in November. America’s dependence on fossil fuels poses challenges to America's environment, economic health, and national security. If we continue along the path of increasing energy use and increasing imports of energy from abroad, all of these challenges are likely to become more critical in the years to come.

This year we need leaders who support moving America beyond oil and toward a cleaner more secure energy future. When Candidate Braley and Candidate Whalen offer their plan for our energy future they should put our national security, our environment, our global climate, and our children’s futures above Big Oil and other powerful interests.

Iowa PIRG is asking all congressional candidates to commit to supporting policies that help the U.S. achieve four key goals:

• Reduce U.S. dependence on oil by saving one-third of the oil we use today (7M/barrels/day) by 2025;
• Harness clean, renewable, homegrown energy sources for at least one quarter of all energy needs by 2025;
• Save energy with high performance homes, buildings and appliances so that by 2025 we use 10 percent less energy than we do today; and
• Invest in a New Energy Future by tripling research and development funding for the energy-saving and renewable technologies we need to achieve these goals.

According to a recent analysis by Iowa PIRG, achieving these goals would have a tremendous impact on America’s environment, economy, and national security.

Reduce U.S. dependence on oil.
America has the technological know-how to dramatically reduce our dependence on oil. By building cars that go farther on a gallon of gas, giving Americans better transportation choices, and using clean, renewable fuels, we can slash our use of oil, improve our environment, safeguard our energy security and, in many cases, save money.

Among the steps we can take are increasing fuel economy standards for cars and trucks, setting goals for plant-based fuels like ethanol and biodiesel, and investing in expanded and improved public transit services. Using these and other tools we can cut America’s oil consumption by more than 7 million barrels a day – about one-third of America’s current oil use.

Harness clean, renewable, homegrown energy sources.
America has virtually limitless potential to take advantage of renewable energy to power our economy. The Great Plains has been called the “Saudi Arabia of wind” for its vast, high quality wind resource. Similarly, solar photovoltaic panels placed on just 7 percent of the area currently covered by cities and residences could generate all of America’s electricity.

By tapping our renewable energy potential, America can dramatically scale back its use of fossil fuels. According to a Iowa PIRG’s recent analysis, replacing nearly 25 percent of our energy with renewable sources by 2025 would allow us to save more than half of the natural gas per year in 2025 than is currently used in American homes, and 40 percent of all the coal America used in 2005.

Save Energy.
America has vast “strategic reserves” of energy efficiency. Virtually every part of the American economy has the potential to use energy more efficiently– from the appliances in our kitchens, to the windows in our office buildings, and the motors in our factories.

Cutting our use of energy by 10 percent would require reducing the amount of energy we are projected to use in 2025 by 27 percent. Recent studies suggest that we could cut our use of electricity and natural gas by more than 20 percent using energy efficiency technologies that pay back their costs over time. We could get the rest of the way to our goal by investing in tomorrow’s technologies such as “zero-energy” homes that virtually eliminate the need for fossil fuels and “green” commercial buildings that slice demand for energy by 25 to 40 percent or more.

Invest in a New Energy Future. By committing $30 billion over the next 10 years to the New Energy for America Initiative, we could triple research and development funding for the energy-saving and renewable technologies we need to achieve these goals.

Spending $3 billion per year on federal clean energy research and development over the next decade would help us develop the next wave of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. Projects could include developing the next wave of improvements in vehicle technology, investigating ways to store the energy created by wind and solar power, and finding the best ways to effectively use biofuels.

Achieving the goal of a New Energy Future will not be an easy task, so we need leaders who are up to the challenge.  By supporting these goals, candidates will send a clear message to voters that they are committed to putting American innovation to work in order to break America’s dependence on oil and put our nation on a course toward a more economically and environmentally secure tomorrow.

The full text of the analysis and the New Energy Future goals are available at www.iowapirg.org.

For more information, please contact:
Alana Stamas, Iowa PIRG (515) 282-4193 (astamas@pirg.org) OR
Rob Sargent, U.S. PIRG Energy Program Director (617-747-4317) (rsargent@pirg.org)