Together We Will Empower America in the Twenty First Century

By Joseph A. Stanislaw

November 2008

“With the historic election of Barack Obama to President, our nation enjoys new opportunities to confront monumental challenges—especially the convergence of energy, climate change, and security. This is the speech I would like to see  President Obama deliver when he takes office in January 2009.” -  Joseph Stanislaw

My fellow Americans, this is my first address to you as your President.   It is also one of the most important speeches I will ever make.

Our nation confronts many challenges. Our broken financial system has caused heartbreak for millions of families—you have lost jobs and homes, foregone education and medical treatment, seen your retirement funds destroyed. We are fighting a pair of wars that have consumed too many American lives and too much of our common treasure. Our earth, meanwhile, faces a growing climate change challenge. Only one in ten Americans believes our country is headed in the right direction.

Yet, despite the severity of these problems, one challenge transcends them all.

It is—at once—our most critical economic, national security, foreign policy, and environmental challenge. It lies at the heart of how we educate our children and operate our government. It is the key to unlocking millions of jobs, and to preserving and developing our local communities. And it is our way out of this economic crisis, the most severe crisis our nation has faced since the Great Depression.

If we confront this issue wisely, if we are united and determined, America’s future will be as bright as ever. We will regain the mantle of global economic and moral leadership. If we do not succeed, however, our children’s futures will be uncertain at best, dire at worst.

This issue is energy—how we produce it and how we consume it. Either we will determine the fate of energy—or it will determine ours. I stand before you as the latest in a long line of presidents, going back at least to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who have sought to forge a sensible energy policy for America. Some tried harder than others, yet they all had one thing in common: Each and every one of them failed. But this time there is no room for failure.

Previous presidents felt compelled to reform energy policy for one principal reason: the high cost of oil. When oil prices peaked, energy plans were unveiled; when prices fell, these plans were shelved. Now, again, we are being buffeted by rising and falling energy costs. We must ignore these short-term ups and downs and focus on the long term.

The threats we face today that are linked to energy have multiplied. Not only are our economic security and well-being at risk, but so too is our fundamental security. Our reliance on foreign oil threatens our independence. Our exposure to climate change poses an unacceptable risk to our communities, our environment, and our culture.

It is this convergence of economics, climate change, and security that makes energy the most important issue of our time.

Allow me to be blunt about why my predecessors fell short. They all had advisors who told them: “If you try to change the system, it will cost Americans money and make their lives less convenient, and they won’t see any benefit from it for the next five elections—all of which we’ll lose.”

But here is what I say: If those presidents had displayed the courage to ignore myopic advice, we would not be facing the daunting challenges now ahead of us. If our car fleet had the same average fuel economy as European cars, we would be importing about 3 million barrels per day less oil—imagine the impact of this on our balance of payments, on our dollar, and on the price of oil. And, the US would be the leader in manufacturing solar PV panels, putting us alongside or ahead of Germany and China.

So I will follow a different path. Twenty years from now, this is the America we will have created: Our economy will be booming, as we lead the world in energy innovation—from environmentally sound and technology- leading petroleum production, and the most efficient energy consumption practices, to more carbon-neutral power generation and green technologies. Our jobs will be well paid and secure. Our air will be clean. Our foreign policy will not be distorted by our need to secure oil supplies from abroad, and by pressures exerted on us by oil producers like Venezuela and Iran. No one will ever hold America over a barrel again. America must be in the driver’s seat—it is better for our country and for the world.

The reality for now is that, despite the short-term fall in prices, the price of energy will rise again. But if we follow through faithfully on the plan I will describe to you, sooner than later your own household energy costs will go down.

This will not be an easy fight, but it is the most necessary one of our lifetimes. Some people compare our quest to develop a new energy era with our race to the moon in the 1960s. It is not an apt comparison, however. The race to the moon was not nearly as consequential as the marathon we are now embarking on—a long-term quest to power, and empower, America.

In leading our country into a new energy era, I have on my side one all- powerful weapon—a weapon none of my predecessors ever fully enlisted in their efforts: you, the American people. Each and every American, beginning today, has the power to drive our country to greater energy independence. Each and every American can contribute in a meaningful way to creating the green economy of the 21st century and to combat climate change.

I will be accountable to you. And I expect you to be accountable to me and to each other. This is what democracy means.

Let me be very clear about this: I do not expect you to go home, turn down the heat, and put on a wool sweater. Our approach to energy will make your lives better, not worse.

Everything I do will aim to unleash the ideals that underpin our country.

We will appeal to American common sense by expediting the era of cutting-edge clean vehicles, energy efficient homes, and smart appliances—all of which will save you money and improve your lives.

We will build on the American ethic of fairness by allowing competing technologies to prove themselves on their true merits — making our markets reflect and capture the true cost of energy (whatever the source). Thus, we will create a level playing field — one that allows us to understand which energy options are truly effective: clean coal, carbon capture and sequestration, nuclear, solar, wind, tidal energy, smart grids, smart meters, energy efficiency. We will inspire and support America’s spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship by investing in research and providing powerful incentives to bring new technologies into the marketplace.

We will lead the way by making energy a force for international unity, not division, and by seriously addressing climate change.

And we will honor America’s forward-looking spirit by investing in education, from cradle to grave, so that we change how Americans of all ages view our energy challenges and the related environmental issues.

I could have delivered this speech to you from Silicon Valley, which symbolizes American can-do entrepreneurial capitalism—something we will need more than ever.

But instead, I am here in the coal mines of Appalachia because I want to underscore another critical point: In forging our path to a new energy era, we will not leave any individual, any industry, or any resource or technology behind. We will not discard the old—we will transform it. And we will thus transform America.

Nor will we suddenly turn our backs on oil and gas. No matter how fast the progress on alternatives, the world will be primarily reliant on fossil fuels for at least two generations—the bridge to tomorrow’s new energy future depends on this. In fact, fossil fuels likely will account for at least 50 percent of world energy supply in 2050. There is no quick fix. But a rising tide of alternative sources of energy—combined with new demand patterns and new demand efficiencies—will mitigate the eventual, gradual drop-off in hydrocarbon production that should begin in the next quarter-century. This will create a bridge to the new, cleaner energy era ahead and will create a wave of new jobs—a new industrial revolution.

Allow me to outline five areas of action, including specific targets, on which my administration will begin working immediately. I will report to you on our progress every 90 days until we have reached our targets.

The first, and most vital goal, is education. There is only so much that presidential leadership alone can accomplish. For this great American project to succeed, we must make knowledge of energy part of our national DNA. This can only be done through education.

So tomorrow, I will convene a blue-ribbon commission of high school and college educators, business and labor leaders, economists, and technology experts to look at every aspect of our education, training, and public awareness systems. I will give the commissioners 90 days to return to the Oval Office with a plan for educating every American on energy. Their first goal will be to identify the skills our schools must teach so that we develop a world-class workforce that can usher in a new era of energy and environmental progress—these include basic skills needed from electricians, to welders, to plumbers, to more advanced engineering skills.

But education requires not only learning in the classroom, but learning in the real world. So today I am announcing the massive expansion of AmeriCorps. Every graduating high school senior will be encouraged to undertake one year of national service. The top priority will go to projects that will rebuild our communities so that they become energy efficient and environmentally aware.

Our second goal is one that also enlists every single American—energy efficiency.

The greatest proven reserves of fossil fuels that we have are not in Saudi Arabia or the Gulf of Mexico—they are in your cars’ gas tanks, in your homes’ oil heaters, in the electricity plant down the road. A barrel of oil saved is a barrel found. Everything we do today, we could be doing more efficiently as soon as tomorrow—consuming less energy by using technologies that are already available to us.

My goal is not to make you do less with less—but to do more with less. So tomorrow, I am asking every American to make the symbolic gesture of changing just one light bulb in your house from the old incandescent technology, to the new fluorescent bulbs or to the new LEDs. This is only a beginning—but it’s a powerful one. It is not just light bulbs we will change, but our habits.

There is much more that you must do—and that government must help you do. Government will help you make the upfront investments—in cleaner vehicles, for instance, and energy efficient homes—that you would otherwise be unable to afford and that over time will save you and all Americans money.

By the end of my first term in office, our goal is to put in place energy efficiency programs and initiatives to promote alternative transportation technologies that will eliminate the need for oil imports by 2025.

Our progress towards energy efficiency, however, will only be possible if we continue to develop smart technologies and alternative forms of energy. For this to happen, we need markets that are honest and fair—markets that reflect the true price of energy. This will be my administration’s third goal.

Simply put, when you buy a gallon of gas today, or fill your boiler, the price of these fossil fuels does not reflect their true costs to our society. Over the course of my first term, therefore, I will confer with the energy industry about adopting a carbon tax or a carbon trading system that creates a cost for carbon to make the economics of our energy systems reflect the honest cost of fossil fuels. The revenues we raise from such a tax or trading system would be invested in helping to finance the upfront costs of energy efficiency technologies for Americans, as well as in the research we need to develop clean and alternative technologies.

This is my fourth goal: to make America the world leader in every promising clean and alternative energy technology. There is no silver bullet to achieve our energy targets—we need every bullet. Clean coal, wind, solar, tidal, biomass, nuclear—they all will be allowed to blossom and compete.

As importantly, my government will renew our country’s aging infrastructure, laying the foundations for the green economy of the 21st century. A smart energy grid will be one of our signature projects. Specifically, within two months from today, we will begin work on demonstration projects for a smart grid system in two to three locations in America, so we can prove the worth of these technologies. We will then reward states that allow for the rapid implementation of smart grids and we will develop programs to speed the construction of such grids across the country.

If we are willing to spend $1 trillion to bail out banks, surely we can invest an equal amount to build the basis of our future prosperity. In doing so, government will lead by example. We will use America’s might in the market to set the highest standards for energy technology. Those companies that lead the way will be rewarded in the marketplace through the government’s purchasing power.

Your government will construct buildings that meet green LEED standards. Your government will retrofit its buildings to the highest “green” standards. Your government will purchase automobiles and electronics that rate in the top 10 percent of energy efficiency. By doing so, we will create economies of scale for these technologies that will bring down prices for all Americans. And your government will hire employees who have received certification in energy efficiency.

I expect that city and state governments, many of which have been visionaries in this field, will follow the federal government’s lead. In fact, we will help them do so by offering federal guarantees for municipal bonds raised for this purpose. We also will require any entity drawing on federal funds to meet federal energy standards.

In everything we do, in fact, we will be guided by a profound commitment to our local communities—it is the prism through which we will develop all of our energy policies.

This is why next week I will bring together those who have revitalized their local economies by guiding them into the green era. Communities like Sweetwater, Texas, a global leader in wind energy ... Atlanta, Georgia ... Greensboro, Kansas...and the South Bronx. At the conclusion of this meeting, in cooperation with today’s top technology companies, we will launch a major web portal to allow local communities nationwide and worldwide to share their best ideas and practices for transforming themselves into green economic leaders.

Government also will use the current crisis in our economy to transform local communities. As we rebuild our financial system, we will ensure that it functions to promote housing and urban transport improvements that are responsive to our energy goals. This includes, among other measures, providing mortgages with lower rates for more energy efficient homes.

And when the smoke clears—and the smoke will literally clear—we will have created millions of new jobs—jobs that pay well and stay put for all those students educated by the “green economy” schools we will have created. Jobs that revitalize local communities. Jobs that make America a global industrial leader once again. Jobs that cannot and will not be exported.

But if there is one thing we have learned during the economic and foreign policy crises of the past decade, it is that we cannot go it alone. America is not an island.

On the energy issues that matter most, we need to reach out and develop deep cooperation with our allies and trading partners. This is my fifth goal.

Our ultimate destination is energy independence. But, the path to that ultimate destination is mutual interdependence. We will achieve this by creating transparency in energy markets, by investing jointly with our allies in new and renewable technologies, by leading negotiations for a successor treaty to the Kyoto protocol, and by creating a G20 for energy security. Eventually, once our truly energy efficient and alternative technologies blossom, we might attain energy independence. But this time will not come soon.

To oversee all aspects of this greatest challenge of our generation, I am creating today a National Energy Council, which will be located in the White House.

This Council will be responsible for developing our 50-year strategy. It will consult with the public in a series of town hall meetings across the nation to be held over the next four months, communicating our vision and harvesting ideas—both through the Internet and in person. The NEC will be responsible for strategic oversight and day-to-day implementation of the energy plan, developing benchmarks to monitor progress, and regularly reporting to the American people. Their core mission will be to create the vision, the direction, and the conditions to drive us to this new energy future.

We should not expect short-term miracles from this plan. Over the next four years, we must do the hard work of defining and putting in place a 50-year vision for the wholesale transformation of our society to one that has a sensible long-term energy policy—and is also clean and green. If we do this, our energy costs and our foreign dependency will drop dramatically each and every decade. This is the promise I make to you and your children and your grandchildren.

Joseph A. Stanislaw has spent his career concerned about the future of energy production and consumption.  The J.A. Stanislaw Group specializes in strategic thinking and investment in energy and technology, advising industry and governments as they set energy policy.  Deeply influenced by the writings of E. F. Schumacher, Mr. Stanislaw has authored several papers on alternative energy technologies and their promise.