Renewable Energy- Policy Project

I topic that I chose to read about is the environment. I believe that this issue is largely significant in the world right now, especially with all the information about global warming. The details that former Vice President Al Gore talked about in his movie are significant and his winning of the the Nobel Prize explains how important that the environment is right now. The topic that I will be focusing on is renewable energy. This type of energy includes energy from hydrogen, water, solar, and wind power. Basically this means that gasoline is not a renewable source of energy, which will be one of the primary components of my discussion.

I believe that as a country we need to not only find, but use alternate and renewable forms of energy because we are running out of oil and it is not getting any cheaper. For example, yesterday I bought gas for $4.39 a gallon, which is not as ridiculous as my dad who had to buy premium gas which costed him $4.70 or so. This is not right at all because we have alternate sources of energy, like hydrogen but we are not using them or the government is not stressing the importance of this. The 2006 Renewable Energy Policy: Tax Credit, Budget, and Regulatory Issues stated that "high gasoline prices have stimulated a DOE proposal for aggressive development of cellulosic ethanol as an alternative to gasoline and corn-based ethanol. The focus is on using biotechnology to simplify processes and reduce costs." However, since 2006 gasoline prices have been on the rise, causing the price per barrel to increase to over $100 per barrel. I believe that the government needs to make policy that forces more research to be put into renewable energy and that by a certain date this needs to be found and all cars need to have this alternative source of energy. Although we have hybrid cars on the market now, the problem is that they are so expensive and that people will be more likely to buy the same car that is not in hybrid form. So, the car companies should also make the cars at an equal or lesser price, so that more people will be willing to buy them.

The government has been trying to make significant strides in solar energy, however. "The Bush Administration’s FY2007 budget request for the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Renewable Energy Program seeks $359.2 million, which is $84.0 million, or 30.5%, more than the FY2006 appropriation. In support of the President’s proposal for an Advanced Energy Initiative (AEI), the request includes major funding increases for solar energy (to support the Solar America initiative) and biomass (to support the Biorefinery Initiative). The main increases are for Solar Photovoltaics ($79.5 million) and Biomass ($59.0 million)." I believe that solar energy will help our world significantly because we are using less power, thus our energy prices are cheaper and there is less pollution. My aunt and uncle in Lancaster have solar panels on their home and sometimes their bill is only $1.50 or only a few cents. I believe that if everyone gets solar panels the environment may not be perfect, but there would be much less pollution. However, their is a price to the solar panels which also makes people less likely to buy them. In order to get most solar panels it is about $20,000 which is way more than pocket change to most, although it pays for itself in about a year or less it is very difficult for most to pay these kind of fees for a type of energy when they need food and other necessities. Also, recently their have been cuts to the solar energy money which is unfortunate because these panels could have helped with cars and maybe one day their can be a type of car with them. Although there has been cuts I still believe that policy should be made that in larger cities solar, at least some, should be mandatory in the next few years. If they do not make it mandatory the government should at least give some benefits, like tax breaks, to those who have solar in their home.

This Renewable Energy Policy helped teach me more about another type of energy that most people do not think of, this is wind energy. Although seemingly simple, wind energy can be very helpful in the long run because it gives you energy through something that will always be here, wind. To convert wind into energy their are windmills and large turbines, you may be able to see these sometimes in a deserted location or even by a farm. The government has given a large amount of consideration to wind energy, however there have been some problems. " major debate has erupted over the safety and economic and environmental aspects of a proposal by Cape Wind Associates to develop an offshore wind farm near Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The parties to the debate are waiting for the results of a Department of Interior (DOI) environmental impact statement and a Coast Guard study of navigational safety aspects. Also, concern that large wind turbines may disrupt radar systems led to federal actions to halt several wind farm developments, pending the results of a study by the Department of Defense (DOD) that was due in early May 2006. In late June 2006, the Sierra Club filed suit to compel completion of the DOD radar study. An agency of the United Kingdom has studied modifications to turbines and radar systems that may help solve the problem." I am glad that their is a solution to this problem, but I do not think that wind energy has been used enough. I believe that large factories should be required to use some sort of renewable energy, especially if they are a huge cause to pollution. Although most sources of renewable energy are hard to use I believe that wind energy may be one of the easiest types of energy to find. Therefore, I believe the government needs to make tougher restrictions on business and making them in the next 7 years or so find an alternate form of energy, that will be part of their energy source and as time goes on be their main source of energy.

For more on the Renewable Energy Policy you can read it for yourself here: http://www.nationalaglawcenter.org/assets/crs/RL33588.pdf

Super-Duper Tuesday Will Matter

The primary season has been very, very exciting, especially in the world of AP US Government. The primaries are so exciting because no one is a front runner at all. So much money was spent in Iowa for the caucus and Obama and Huckabee won. However, we went right back to where we started when Clinton and McCain won. Basically no one knows who is going to win the Democratic and Republican nomination after the two most important primaries of the election. This makes many happy because this means that the field will be open for the February 5th which is when the primaries are for California and 23 other states. Everything is going crazy with Hillary's surprising win and Romney's silver wins. This is going to be a tight race and who knows if religious conservatives will continue to vote for Huckabee or they will vote for another candidate. Romney needs saving and Thompson needs to win South Carolina or he will be out of the race completely. Also, Edwards needs to think fast or he might need to drop out, especially since Kerry will now help out Obama. Richardson is out, so who will drop out next?

Basically all this political drama means that the two presidential candidates are not set in stone, as they usually are, in the small (kind of wimpy in delegates) states of New Hampshire and Iowa. This all means that Super-Duper Tuesday (February 5th) will be one of the most important primaries for all voters, which is really exciting because this hasn't happened in a long time. Usually when California is supposed to vote the vote does not really mean anything because the two candidates were picked already by Iowa and New Hampshire. However, there is no clear winner meaning that this is going to be one exciting primary season. I am glad that bigger and more diverse states, like CA, will pick the next presidential hopefuls. Mark your calendars for February 5th, if you can't vote tell someone, I sure will.