Barack Obama has released his energy plan. For the most part it’s full of short term solutions, and political panders. But it’s better than the other guys…sometimes you cant win.

Obama’s claims his energy plan will:

• Provide short-term relief to American families facing pain at the pump
• Help create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future.
• Within 10 years save more oil than we currently import from the Middle East and Venezuela combined.
• Put 1 million Plug-In Hybrid cars — cars that can get up to 150 miles per gallon — on the road by 2015, cars that we will work to make sure are built here in America.
• Ensure 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.
• Implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.

That’s some pretty serious claims, most of which I think are good (I have written many times about the need to create green jobs), some of which I think are too little (by 2025 we need to be a bit more than 25% of our energy from renewable energy). In essence it is a two part strategy, efficiency, and renewables. Exactly what everyone one with a brain has been screaming about for the last 30 years. Read the full plan here (pdf)

For my much more detailed dissection of his plan read below. (his plan is quoted with my comments in between)

First up Obama answers the question that no one wants to hear the real answer to, how to lower gas prices. My comments in italics.

Provide Short-term Relief to American Families

• Enact a Windfall Profits Tax to Provide a $1,000 Emergency Energy Rebate to American Families.

  Obama will enact a windfall profits tax on excessive oil company profits to give American families an immediate $1,000 emergency energy rebate to help families pay rising bills. This relief would be a down payment on Obama’s long-term plan to provide middle-class families with at least $1,000 per year in permanent tax relief.

So he plans on charging oil companies a whole lot more taxes, while giving that money to the American people, while hinting at a further tax cut some some kind? Does anyone else think the oil companies will do anything other than raise prices? The only way to lower the cost of oil is to use less oil…plain and simple. This part of the plan makes me wonder if this is just a political pander towards the gas starved masses.

• Crack Down on Excessive Energy Speculation.
  

  Barack Obama will close energy industry market loopholes and increase transparency to prevent traders from unfairly lining their pockets, while driving up oil prices at the expense of the American people.

Sure this would be great, but like I said above, the real problem with gas prices is that we are rapidly running out of cheap oil, and the demand for such is going through the roof, leading to such eco-disasters as the Alberta tar sands, and the proposal to tap the rocky mountain oil shale.

• Swap Oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to Cut Prices.
  

  With oil prices doubling in the past year, Barack Obama believes we have an economic emergency that requires a limited, responsible swap of light oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) for heavy crude oil to help bring down prices at the pump.

Again this seems like a short term solution at best, the SPR is not nearly big enough to satisfy our demand for oil for any useful period of time, and stocking it with heavy crude will only make it that much harder to use if we did have some need to. All in all I give Obama 0 out of 3 for his plans to lower gas prices. The real reason nothing real is going to be done about high gas prices is because all of the solutions that will remove this burden from the American people involve the RAISING of gas prices, not the lowering of them. American need to stop using gas, the only way to make that happen is to replace gas with far cheaper and cleaner forms of energy. Solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal, all of which are nearing the point where they are cheaper than oil, artificially lowering for a short time the price of oil will do nothing to encourage these technologies. In the long run, high gas prices means a cleaner planet free from the dangers of global warming, but saying so would be political suicide.

Eliminate Our Need for Middle Eastern and Venezuelan Oil within 10 Years

• Increase Fuel Economy Standards.
  

  Obama will increase fuel economy standards 4 percent per year while providing $4 billion for domestic automakers to retool their manufacturing facilities in America to produce these vehicles.

Efficiency is always a good idea, I support this. I have no idea what an additional 4 billion in spending would do to the debt, but I figure if we get out of Iraq we should have plenty of money for this.

• Get 1 Million Plug-In Hybrid Cars on the Road by 2015.

  These vehicles can get up to 150 miles per gallon. Barack Obama believes we should work to ensure these cars are built here in America, instead of factories overseas.

I would rather him push for full electric cars powered by wind and solar, but like I said above efficiency is always a good idea. This is a good idea as well, also building the cars at home would increase the economy and give people more money to buy these new efficient cars.

• Create a New $7,000 Tax Credit for Purchasing Advanced Vehicles.
  

What the hell is an “advanced vehicle”? I hope this doesn’t turn out to be another tax break for rich people like the whole “buy a hummer get a huge tax break” thing Bush co. came up with.

• Establish a National Low Carbon Fuel Standard.
  

  Obama will establish a National Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) to reduce the carbon in our fuels 10 percent by 2020. Obama will also require 60 billion gallons of advanced biofuels to be phased into our fuel supply by 2030.

Reducing the amount of co2 we pump into the air is a good plan, I just wonder if using biofuels (aka ethanol from corn) is the right way to do so. Corn ethanol is a train wreck in slow motion and has been propped up by big farm companies and pushed forward by misled/payed off politicians. If by advanced biofuels he means biodiesel from non-food crops, and ethanol from cellulose or other non-food crops grown on marginal land or recovered from other waste streams, well I feel a little better about that. But again the real solution is to move away from liquid fuel cars/trucks towards a full electric system.

• A “Use it or Lose It” Approach to Existing Oil and Gas Leases.
  

  Obama will require oil companies to develop the 68 million acres of land (over 40 million of which are offshore) which they have already leased and are not drilling on.

I am guessing the oil companies are not drilling on this land because it is not profitable to do so. If we force them to drill here wont this just raise the price of oil? Sorry but this seems like a silly idea. The only silver lining is that if it does raise the cost of oil, people will be even more likely to stop using it so much. Plus one for unintentional good consequences.

• Promote the Responsible Domestic Production of Oil and Natural Gas.
  

  An Obama administration will establish a process for early identification of any infrastructure obstacles/shortages or possible federal permitting process delays to drilling in the Bakken Shale formation, the Barnett shale formation, and the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

So mister “yes we can”‘s answer to oil shortages is to rape the earth…Seems to me like this is another stupid idea. Even if we sucked out every single drop of oil in this country it would do little to solve our long term problems, or address the horrifying specter of run away global warming. This is a stupid idea. All in all I give Obama 3 out of 6 here, again not very impressed

Create Millions of New Green Jobs

• Ensure 10 percent of Our Electricity Comes from Renewable Sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.

As I said above I think this is a fine idea, just want it to be more like 30-50% by 2025. Only a truly ambitious plan is going to get us out of the mess we are in.

• Deploy the Cheapest, Cleanest, Fastest Energy Source — Energy Efficiency.

  Obama will set an aggressive energy efficiency goal — to reduce electricity demand 15 percent from projected levels by 2020.

Efficiency is always a good option, plus it saves money, and helps the economy. New products, smaller bills, and less energy used to it helps the environment (less coal/oil/gas burned). However reducing it 15% from “projected levels” is great, but I would like to see a goal of halting the growth of energy usage all together and then reversing it.

• Weatherize One Million Homes Annually.

  Obama will make a national commitment to weatherize at least one million low-income homes each year for the next decade, which can reduce energy usage across the economy and help moderate energy prices for all.

These are exactly the kind of low hanging fruit the government should be going after, but again I would like to see this be a much larger number. The low income people of this country will benefit the most from this program, but 1 million a year will hardly keep up with demand.

• Develop and Deploy Clean Coal Technology.

  Obama’s Department of Energy will enter into public private partnerships to develop five “first-of-a-kind” commercial scale coal-fired plants with clean carbon capture and sequestration technology.

There is no such thing as clean coal, even if you manage to keep the co2 produced while burning it from going into the air (in the process increasing the cost higher than that of solar/wind), you still need to dig the stuff out of the ground (mountain top removal anyone?). Coal is a dead end technology and should be abandoned, period.

• Prioritize the Construction of the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline.

  As president, Obama will work with the Canadian government, state of Alaska, oil and gas producers, and other stakeholders to facilitate construction of the pipeline. Not only is this pipeline critical to our energy security, it will create thousands of new jobs.

What the hell Barack? Are you serious? More carbon rich fuel is not the answer to our energy problems, while natural gas is less co2 intensive than coal or oil it is still pretty noxious stuff when you consider what global warming is doing to this planet. Why not work with the Canadian government to create an international smart grid so that Canada and the united states can share clean renewable power? 3 out of 5 for this section.

Reduce our Greenhouse Gas Emissions 80 Percent by 2050

• Implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.

  Obama’s cap-and-trade policy will require all pollution credits to be auctioned, and proceeds will go to investments in a clean energy future and rebates and other transition relief for families.

Some form of carbon control policy is desperately needed, I hope this one is up to the task.

• Make the U.S. a Leader on Climate Change.

  Obama will re-engage with the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) — the main international forum dedicated to addressing the climate problem. He will also create a Global Energy Forum of the world’s largest emitters to focus exclusively on global energy and environmental issues.

International involvement and adherence to international treaties have been one of the biggest things holding not just America but the world back from making real change when it comes to climate solutions. I hope that a more open and understand (aka: based on science, not oil industry insider money) will lead to real changes not just here but all over the world. 2 out of 2 for this section.

So all in all I give this policy a 50% (8 out of 16) grade or a big fat F. Frankly I am not your average American consumer (I hate that term) but all the talk of drilling, pipelines, and clean coal make me wonder what exactly the plan for the future is? While other nations run towards renewables as fast as they can, American politics seems to be spinning it’s wheels on carbon based energy sources. But like I said, McCains energy policy is even worse. Who knows, perhaps after he gets into office, and is no longer bound by the “move to the center” excuse to win the election (hopefully with a year or two or Democratic control of both houses) we will see some real policies to fix up this nations energy policy. I guess that’s what Obama means when he say that he represents the politics of hope, because that’s what I am doing, hoping this all works.