The U.S. economy requires twice as much energy to produce a dollar of GDP as developed countries in Europe and Asia. Decades of policies that encourage energy waste have made the American economy less competitive, and working Americans are particularly vulnerable to high energy prices. Energy efficiency is an under-utilized resource with the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, stimulate U.S. productivity, and increase the financial security of the middle class. New America’s Energy initiative works to increase America’s energy productivity through policies that encourage innovation in energy use and consumption, change the finance and market conditions for energy efficiency, and allow families to invest in energy efficiency.
The Efficiency Opportunity
For the first time in thirty years, the Obama administration is rewriting US energy policy to address greenhouse gas emissions, energy prices, energy security, and competitiveness. Energy efficiency offers a fast, cost effective--and often profitable--way to reduce carbon emissions, energy spending, and dependence on foreign energy suppliers. Efficiency has the potential to reduce energy demand far more quickly than we can increase low-carbon energy supplies like wind or solar, but it is not exploited because of regulatory, financial, and competitive barriers.
New America's Approach
In order to build a broad constituency of green voters, we believe that middle class families need to have the means to invest in energy efficient autos, home retrofits, and low-carbon transit. Policies that enable households to control their energy use will make them more financially stable and they will have broad stimulus benefits to the economy as a whole. In addition, this is the most efficient way to address the changing paradigm of energy production and management, which will increasingly occur in a distributed smart grid rather than through central generation.
Clean Power Authority for the South and Midwest. To bring cheap low carbon power onto the grid quickly and stimulate the economies of industrial and agricultural states in the South and Midwest, the federal government should create a Clean Power Authority. The CPA would purchase electricity from industry, agriculture, and municipal waste facilities in the region, which could equal the output of as many as 69 nuclear plants. Just as the Tennessee Valley Authority was created to provide affordable, clean power while fostering regional economic development and preserving the environment, the CPA would foster the production of cheap, low-carbon power in the Southern and Midwestern states, stabilizing the grid, creating thousands of jobs, drawing investment to the region, making the heartland a national leader in clean power.
Flexible Transit. Twice as many Americans carpool as ride mass transit. Carpooling and vanpooling is a quick, cheap way to get more Americans to work with less fuel, and at a lower cost, making it a good strategy to cushion the impact of high gas prices, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and decrease oil demand in an emergency. The flexible transit program has been closely examining five exemplary flexible transit programs around the country and has found that changing behavior is easier than most people think: It's more about ease and "value" than it is about money or even core beliefs. The program is developing a toolkit for policy makers and employers to be more aware of this large potential resource and to take advantage of it with smart incentives and technology.
The Energy Policy Advisory Council
For the first time in more than a generation, President Obama is rewriting America’s energy policy. Right now this is a hodgepodge of diverse, seemingly unrelated initiatives, including: stimulus funds, the rescue of the auto industry, EPA regulations, FERC initiatives, domestic climate change legislation, international agreements like the Copenhagen round, biofuel and plug-in hybrid mandates, and many smaller tax incentives and subsidies. The piecemeal nature of these changes makes them seem smaller than they are, and makes their impact—both positive and negative-- difficult to forecast in today’s volatile energy markets.
New America's Energy Policy Advisory Council will hold a series of forums to thoroughly interrogate the combined effects of the Obama energy initiatives, with particular attention to encouraging secure lower carbon energy supplies in the next five to eight years, creating jobs, and making middle class families stronger. The Council will shape and influence public opinion while simultaneously working with policy makers to reframe the issue away from partisan battles and towards pragmatic solutions that both “plug the holes” in the current initiatives and offer a larger framework for change.
For Additional Information, Contact:
Lisa Margonelli
margonelli@newamerica.net
