US In The World | Energy | A 21st-Century Energy Strategy

Messaging Recommendations, Helpful Arguments & Facts

Common Critiques & Effective Responses

What you propose would harm our economy.

The market will take care of this; let the private sector lead.

The science isn't conclusive on global warming. You use scare tactics.

The international approach on global warming is unfair.

What you propose would restrict our choices and compromise safety.

Face it, oil is going to be central for a very long time.

You're unrealistic...Yours are pipedream technologies.

Representative Quotes

Can-do

We need a national plan to jump-start us toward a smarter energy policy -- for our security, for our economy, and for our environment.

If we use the wealth, innovation, and can-do spirit with which we are blessed, our energy future can be safer, cleaner, and more prosperous. But if we continue as we are, we will be vulnerable to energy price shocks, instability in the Middle East and elsewhere, and greater damage to our health and environment from pollution and global warming.

A smarter energy policy uses existing technology to build better versions of today's cars and trucks. Transportation accounts for 2/3 of the oil we consume and for hundreds of thousands of American jobs; the alternatives are real. U.S. manufacturers are committed to meeting meet a 43-miles-per-gallon standard for cars sold in Europe by 2010. China has announced plans for a mileage standard higher than ours.
A smarter energy policy will use existing technology that can make new power plants 30 to 60 percent more efficient -- so that we can stop endangering our children's health with dirty plants that send money up the smokestack.
A smarter energy policy will encourage the use of the technology we already have to build smart buildings that emit no pollution.
A smarter energy policy will put in place an insurance policy against global warming by beginning to make modest restrictions on the emissions that cause it.
And a smarter energy policy will hurry the future -- by ensuring investment in the next generation of technologies for alternative fuels and engines. They're moving forward, but won't become commercially viable without an investment of money from the U.S. government that shows this country is committed to a better energy future.

Common Sense

The global energy transition is already under way.

The question is not whether we will have new innovative technologies such as cars that run on hydrogen and homes that run on solar power; it is when we will have them, and whether the U.S. will lead this change, and U.S. business will profit from it, or whether U.S. citizens and businesses alike will be left behind.

The pace of technological change is speeding up. Hybrid cars, trucks, and SUVs are coming to market faster than anyone thought possible just a few years ago; and vehicles that no one thought Americans would buy now have months-long waiting lists.
Across the U.S., exciting things are happening -- The U.S. wind industry in 2003 became the world's No. 2 leader in new wind installations, just after Germany. Some 13 states now require that a certain amount of their electricity comes from renewable energy, with Minnesota, New Mexico, and Texas among the leaders.
Sweden and France have pledged to cut their emissions of greenhouse gases in half by 2050; other European countries have already made substantial cuts. Soon all EuropeanUnion member countries, including four of the world's seven largest economies, will be participating in emissions trading to create further reductions.
Research on hydrogen fuel cells, which cleanly burn hydrogen generated from almost any source of energy, is already yielding prototype auto engines, air-conditioning units, and even power sources for laptop computers. The U.S. Department of Energy says fuel cell technology could generate 750,000 news jobs by 2030.
Wind power is now the fastest-growing source of energy worldwide. The costs of wind power, solar power, and other alternative technologies are dropping fast enough to begin to make them competitive with oil and coal.
Americans pioneered many of the new energy technologies -- but because there has been little demand for them at home, U.S. firms are now lagging behind. Twenty years ago, U.S. firms had 80 percent of the fuel cell market, but they now have just 20 percent -- right when this technology is hitting the big time.

Teamwork

Government and industry must work together to make it happen -- like every previous transformation.

We can't let short-term special interests blind us to our long-term needs. Our government has successfully helped nurture new industries and encourage new technologies -- from microchips to airbags -- that wouldn't have been possible otherwise. This kind of joint government -- business investment will also create jobs and spur economic growth.

International oil giant BP says that its cut of almost 20 percent in greenhouse gas emissions has actually saved it more than $600 million in just three years. Aluminum producer Alcoa expects to save $100 million through energy efficiency between now and 2006.
The high-tech industry shows just how much difference a small government investment can make. Microchips dropped 95 percent in price, becoming affordable for business and home computers, in 6 years -- because the U.S. government made big purchases of them, giving their makers the incentive and resources to keep innovating.
Where the U.S. is not investing in new technologies, other countries are capturing growing markets. Japan has passed the U.S. to top global sales of solar-powered energy cells, and the top sellers of wind turbines in the U.S. are Danish, not American firms.

Effectiveness

The result will be a win-win-win situation -- for our economy, for the environment, and for future generations.

Implementing new technologies -- in transportation and construction as well as power plants themselves -- will create and sustain good high-tech jobs, just as the computer revolution created the high-tech industries. Experts believe that a full energy transition could generate more than 3.3 million new jobs over 10 years.
Cleaning up old power plants would help the environment. It would also save lives currently lost to respiratory illnesses caused by air pollution -- as many or more lives every year as are saved by laws that convince more Americans to wear seat belts.
Matching Europe and China in auto fuel efficiency by lifting our average to 40 miles per gallon by 2012 would save almost as much oil every day as we imported from Saudi Arabia in 2001. We can do that with the hybrid cars, trucks, and SUVs now beginning to be sold.