The unsettling and devastating impact of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, is yet another reminder that we need to come up with solutions that reduce our over dependence upon oil as a source of energy. A focused strategy is needed to tackle the situation.
Daphne Wysham, a Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, has elucidated some practical ways of reducing our dependence upon oil as an energy source.
Daphne is even suggesting that let's use the Deepwater Horizon disaster as the impetus we need as a nation to really and truly shoot for a target of being oil-free by 2030. And, while we're at it, we might as well go coal free, if we want to avoid the kinds of deadly coal mining disaster, ash slurry breaches, and destroyed ecosystems.
IMPOSSIBLE ? Not by a long shot, says Daphne.
Consider this: Consumers will soon be able to buy affordable ELECTRIC CARS. To make these cars truly clean, their ELECTRICITY must be CLEAN, too. ENERGY EFFICIENCY is the best first step to take toward CLEAN ENERGY. And first in line to ramp up our energy efficiency is a SMART GRID. Energy Secretary Steven Chu claims it will cost more than $100 billion to modernize and "smarten" the grid.
PROHIBITIVE ? Only if you consider the cost of not doing so, and doing so soon.
A comprehensive report for the British government, called the "Stern Review," produced a price tag. It determined that 1% of global gross domestic product per year - which would amount to $140 billion for United States - is required to be invested in a clean energy transition in order to avoid the worst effects of climate change. Failing to make this investment could risk costing up to 20% of our global economy, a potential $2.8 trillion loss.
Building a smart grid and other energy efficiency investments while ramping up our public transit systems could be a down payment on a global shift. According to a United Nations report, this would make renewable energy affordable for everyone on the planet, in only 10 years. The United Nations estimates that an investment of $100 billion per year made by all of the world's countries over a decade - about as much as we have spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001 - would drive down the price of renewable energy alternatives. That would make them affordable for everyone.
On a state and local level, renewable energy could create local jobs. The Institute for Local Self-Reliance has shown that 31 U.S. states could meet their energy needs with homegrown renewable resources.
What would the average American driver SAVE if the whole nation were to shift gears and switch over to electric vehicles, powered by renewable energy, distributed on a smart grid ? NOT a huge amount - about $2,000 or so per year at current oil prices. But this adds up: with 200 million drivers in the United States, we'd save $400 billion per year. That's $400 billion that could help all of us end our reliance on fossil fuels, foreign and domestic.
In addition to FINANCIAL RETURN, we'd see NO MORE SPILLS in the Gulf. PRISTINE beaches. FEWER cancer-causing TOXINS poisoning our environment. LESS asthma. NO MORE WARS over oil. A future of greater CLIMATE STABILITY.
Source: Daphne Wysham, Fellow, Institute of Policy Studies; Huffington Post
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