Chris Cooper
Obama Energy Plan Ignores the Crisis at the Plug
Biofuels Are Not Enough to Solve our Energy Crisis
A statement from NNEC Executive Director, Chris Cooper:
America faces a crisis at the plug every bit as serious as our crisis at the pump.
Biofuels alone cannot not solve our climate crisis. At best, improvements in transportation efficiency can only get us a quarter of the way to the required carbon emissions reductions. The other three-quarters will have to come from improvements in our use of electricity.
As well, America cannot grow its way to energy independence. Replacing all US oil imports with ethanol would require cultivating more land than is used for all the crops currently grown in the United States.
Biofuels will only ever be a short-term stop-gap that helps stretch our supply of oil until we find a permanent solution.
The permanent solution to America’s oil addiction and to our impending climate crisis will come from a national commitment to replace coal and other fossil fuels with clean, efficient energy harnessed from the sun, the wind and the tides. By ignoring the electricity sector, Senator Obama’s plan puts off the hard work of finding real, long-term solutions to America’s energy crisis.
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