1150 Seventeenth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036
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Current proposals in Congress would transition the United States toward a less carbon-intensive energy future by using mandatory caps on fossil fuel energy production. Yet renewable energy sources--often touted by policymakers as the panacea for resource scarcity and global warming--currently provide only 3 percent of the energy Americans consume. The
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role of nuclear power as a source of emissions-free electricity is often ignored. Do we have the technology to meet our energy needs with renewables? Are renewables realistic replacements for coal, petroleum, and natural gas? Can renewable energy alternatives--such as wind, solar, and geothermal energy--be practical and economically reasonable by midcentury? And what are the consequences of using renewable energy production that must occupy vast areas of the American landscape? Policymakers must weigh the potential environmental and economic costs of transitioning to clean and renewable energy sources.
Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) will discuss his ideas on how to provide affordable, clean energy for Americans, which include doubling the number of nuclear power plants, electrifying new vehicles, and creating a series of mini Manhattan Projects to develop cost-effective and reliable renewables. Professor emeritus Daniel B. Botkin of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and AEI resident scholar Kenneth P. Green will offer comments.
| 11:30 a.m. | Registration and Luncheon | |
| 12:00 p.m. | Presenter: | U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) |
| Discussants: | Daniel B. Botkin, University of California, Santa Barbara | |
| Kenneth P. Green, AEI | ||
| 2:00 | Adjournment |
WASHINGTON, JULY 29, 2009--Policymakers routinely clarify the goals of U.S. energy policy: to bolster American competitiveness by securing affordable and abundant energy, reduce carbon emissions to combat climate change, protect the American landscape, and reinforce America's leadership in developing clean technologies. In an effort to meet these goals, the House recently passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (commonly known as Waxman-Markey), which sets benchmarks for renewable energy use and institutes a cap-and-trade system to curb greenhouse gases.
But in a speech at AEI, U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) stated that Waxman-Markey meets "none of these goals" and offered his ideas on how to provide affordable, clean energy for all Americans. These ideas include doubling the number of nuclear power plants, electrifying new vehicles, drilling for natural gas, and creating a series of mini-Manhattan Projects to develop cost-effective and reliable renewables.
Alexander conveyed major concerns with a cap-and-trade regime, dispelling the notion that "deliberately raising energy prices will somehow be good for job growth and the economy" and noting that "raising the price of energy through an expensive cap-and-trade program drives jobs overseas." Alexander compared Waxman-Markey with a "national windmill program," as its ambitious goals for renewable energy sources would require covering vast tracts of the American landscape with between 130 and 180,000 windmills. This "land energy sprawl" would be a detriment to the American landscape, covering land roughly the size of West Virginia. "Renewable energies such as wind, solar, and biomass are intriguing and promising as a supplement to America's energy requirements," but, as Alexander explains in his Blueprint for 100 New Nuclear Power Plants in 20 Years, "trying to expand these forms of renewable energy to the point where they become our prime source of energy has huge costs and obvious flaws that may be impossible to overcome."
To create green jobs while keeping "red, white, and blue jobs," Senator Alexander called for a "National Clean Energy Policy." Alexander outlined a plan that would "conserve energy and use our nuclear, gas, and oil resources until we figure out how to make renewable energy work" and "put the United States within the goals of the Kyoto Protocol on global warming by 2030."
Immediately following Alexander's speech, Daniel Botkin, professor of ecology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Kenneth P. Green, resident fellow in environmental policy at AEI, offered their prognoses of U.S. energy policy. "Nuclear power is expensive to install," explained Botkin, "upfront costs range between $6 and 12 billion per plant," whereas the dollar-per-watt production of wind is comparable with efficient fossil fuels like coal. Botkin, who is currently writing a book on energy independence, explained that "although expensive, alternatives are the only practical options for the future," since petroleum geologists estimate we will need replacements for gasoline and oil by 2050. Another limitation on nuclear power includes the scarcity of uranium. According to Botkin, at 2006 rates of energy consumption, if all of our power came from nuclear sources, "it would only last for five years."
Conversely, Green noted that basic physics of nuclear power explain that you can reprocess isotopes to produce more energy. He outlined major barriers to relying primarily on renewables and the dramatic costs that a transition to renewables would place on consumers. The goal of energy policy should be "to maximize efficiency while being environmentally responsible," Green said. To illustrate the current limits of renewables, he employed the acronym "DRIP": diffuse, remote, intermittent, and pricey. Citing wind as an example, Green explained that it does not blow everywhere. Even in places with sufficient wind, it does not blow constantly, and there is no way to store unused energy. This simply means energy production is wasted and may not be there when needed, which ultimately drives prices up.
U.S. energy policy is at a crossroads: do we want inexpensive or clean energy? According to Senator Alexander, Waxman-Markey delivers neither.
Lamar Alexander is the senior United States Senator from Tennessee and the only Tennessean ever popularly elected both governor and United States Senator. Sen. Alexander serves on Senate committees overseeing education, clean air, highways and the Tennessee Valley Authority. He is co-chairman of the TVA caucus and the Science and Technology caucus, and the third-ranking Senate Republican. He has also written seven books, including several about running for office and his experiences as governor. He is currently sponsoring a number of bills, including one which would give Americans a flat tax alternative to the current system.
Daniel B. Botkin is professor emeritus in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He developed early computer models of environmental phenomena and has directed research on ecosystems around the world. His recent books include Our Natural History: The Lessons of Lewis and Clark (Oxford University Press, 2004), Strange Encounters: Adventures of a Renegade Naturalist (Tarcher Books, 2003), and No Man’s Garden: Thoreau and a New Vision for Civilization and Nature (Island Press, 2001). Mr. Botkin has developed ecology programs for the National Science Foundation and NASA and ecosystem management for the Department of Defense. He also serves on the board of the Environmental Literacy Council.
Kenneth P. Green studies public policy with respect to air pollution and climate change, energy and the environment, transportation and the environment, and environmental chemicals as a resident scholar at AEI. His work includes analysis of Canadian environmental policy. He has authored numerous policy studies, newspaper and magazine articles, several encyclopedia entries and book chapters, and a textbook for middle-school students entitled Global Warming: Understanding the Debate (Enslow Publishers, 2002). Mr. Green has worked on both U.S. and Canadian policy, first at California's Reason Foundation, then for nearly three years at British Columbia's Fraser Institute.
