Why We Can Demand Energy Independence

Everyone has agreed for the last thirty years that energy independence is a worthwhile goal.

There is some debate over why we have not achieved it yet, but the most common or persuasive argument is perhaps that it is simply "not yet technologically feasible". Politicians and energy company executives call for "increased investment in R&D" but set no meaningful goals or benchmarks - and therefore, nothing changes.

The fact is, claims that substantial and affordable progress toward energy independence is not yet possible are completely false.

The Washington Post published a concise article today that outlines 4 countries' efforts and their dramatic progress towards this goal. It also gives some insight into why we have been unwilling (I say unwilling because we are NOT unable) to take the necessary steps.

We should demand an aggressive and specific energy independence plan from out next President. In my opinion, it should be the top priority of his first year. John McCain has already named his plan the "Lexington Project". Barack Obama will probably offer something of similar detail soon.

We can and should demand bold and meaningful action- but we need to know what to ask for from our leaders.

We should not accept McCain's plan of increasing our long-term dependence on oil by investing in more drilling, nor should we follow Obama's calls to produce economically and environmentally inferior versions of ethanol (specifically the politically appealing corn-based variety).

Read here (for 5-8 minutes) to see what other countries have done and are doing. It is an easy and effective way to quickly build some solid knowledge around this important issue.