Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to review the Department of Energy's (DOE) programs and recommend future directions for US policy to address President Obama's desire to save our planet from climate change and reduce reliance on oil (Roberts, Lassiter, & Nanda, 2010, p 4). The context of this review is following the 2008 election of President Obama and the enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) in February 2009. This paper will evaluate the effectiveness of the measures implemented by the Act and compare their effectiveness with an alternative strategy of implementing a carbon tax, then make a recommendation on which strategy would have achieved the President's aims in view of the political, economic and environmental situation that he faced.
Key Challenge
The key challenge that US policy must address the reduction of greenhouse gases while growing the economy. Recovery Act spending acted as a stimulus package to revive an economy heavily affected by the GFC(Aldy, 2012 p 3). While the recovery funds were aimed at stimulating the economy, President Obama stressed the importance of the development of renewable energies in his first State of the Union address (Roberts, Lassiter, & Nanda, 2010 p 3).
Policy Options
The two policy options I will consider are the continuation of the current stimulus package or the introduction of a carbon tax. Both policies would be effective in achieving the President's aim of reducing negative effects on the environment and growing the economy, although through different mechanisms. There are other policy options such as cap and trade schemes, reliance on the market and government-sponsored research programs (Frank, Jennings & Bernanke 2009 pp 328-329) ...
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America is dependent on other nations for their ability to create energy. The United States is the world’s largest consumer of oil at 18.49 million barrels of oil per day. And it will continue to be that way for the foreseeable future considering the next largest customer of oil only consumes about 60% of what the U.S. does. This makes the U.S. vulnerable to any instability that may arise in the energy industry. In 2011, the world’s top three oil companies were Saudi Aramco (12%), National Iranian Oil Company (5%), and China National Petroleum Corp (4%). The risk associated with these countries being the top oil producers is twofold. One, they are located half way around the world making it an expensive to transport the product logistically to a desired destination. And two, the U.S. has weak, if not contentious,...
In the information presented by the Price Water House Coopers (PwC) report, “the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) signed by President Obama on February 17 was an attempt to invigorate a faltering economy marked by rising job losses, falling GDP, continuing uncertainty in the capital markets and world economic weakness”. The main objective of the stimulus was the protection of existing and the creation of new job opportunities, while the secondary objectives included investments in infrastructure, education, health, energy and relief programs for the people affect...
The general idea of the order listed in NDAA is the adaptation, defined as the adjusting to the effects of climate change in our environment, instead of addressing the very important topic of mitigation, which is the reduction of harmful greenhouse gases and other pollutants to slow the effects of climate change (Source 6).There are several problems that arise with this exclusion because this is a major threat to the survival
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P = preliminary data.Note: Data in this table are revised from the data contained in the previous EIA report, Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 1998, DOE/EIA-0573(98) (Washington, DC, October 1999).Sources: Emissions: Estimates presented in this report. Global Warming Potentials: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 1995: The Science of Climate Change (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996).
It is the responsibility of the developed world to change. They have the resources and technology to significantly curb emissions and dampen the effects of climate change. As the world’s second largest emitter of Co2, and as the world’s largest economy, the US must become a leader in the battle against climate change. However, historical incidents of environmental degradation indicate that will power is simply not enough. Unless environmental problems are seen and felt, the US population has been slow and reluctant to act. Unfortunately this lack of will power is still present. As a citizen of the United States, I see no hope for change without the help and intervention of government. Without economic incentive, individuals and firms will not change. I believe that the US government must intervene and implement emission reduction policies, and work toward limiting emissions to the earth’s natural sink function.
David, Suzuki. “Carbon Offsets Are One of Many Solutions Needed for Global Warming.” Current Controversies: Carbon Offsets. Ed. Debra A. Miller. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2009. Print.
The reducing our use of fossil fuels. Seeding the oceans with iron dust to launching sunlight-reflecting particles into the stratosphere would also help the supposed greenhouse effect. These solutions would cost from 0.1% to 1 % of the conventionally estimated $100 billion per year the Kyoto protocols would cost the U.S. to reduce fossil fuel usage back to 1990 levels. What a figure! This funding could be used for health care, homelessness, and starvation.
On June 11, 2001, in combination with his creation of the U.S Climate Research Initiative, President Bush stated that the United States is a world leader in technology and innovation and new technologies can offer a great advance towards climate change. As a result, Bush created a complement to the Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI), called the National Climate Change Technology Initiative (NCCTI). The goal of NCCTI was to make the U.S a stronger leader of climate change-related technology research and development by improving research and development investments across U.S. agencies and by focusing the Federal R&D portfolio on Bush's climate change goal, both near and long term. NCCTI adds on to an extensive foundation of ongoing activities in R&D of climate change-related technologies. The President said on June 11, 2001: "We're creating the National Climate Change Technology Initiative to strengthen research at universities and national labs, to enhance partnerships in applied research, to develop improved technology for measuring and monitoring gross and net greenhouse gas emissions, and to fund demonstration projects for cutting-edge technologies, such as bioreactors and fuel cells."(5)
...ss with other countries. Instead of importing oil, the U.S should invest in clean-energy technology innovation, which would boost growth and create jobs. Investing in a clean-energy economy is the clear path toward re-establishing our economic stability and strengthening our national security. (Content, T. 2011).
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The fundamental flaw of the environmental Kuznets’ curve theory (EKCT) lies in its compartmentalization of environmental impacts, which serve as its basis for establishing a direct relationship with per capita income, the indicator considered for economic development. While it is true that environmental impacts may be spliced and analyzed empirically, actual ecological processes belong to a web of inter-relationships that current science is still trying to fully understand. It is dangerous and irresponsible to assume or suggest that an assortment of piecemeal positive trends can lead to a conclusion that environmental quality improves with economic growth. Adhering to the EKCT is equivalent to accepting that ecological models follow the same trajectory. This means that the same kind of pollution that occurs in two separate countries will more or less have the same effect. The theory does not exhibit much sensitivity to the variation in the value of ecosystems and species. The reality is that some ecosystems are greater in value, are more fragile, and are more species rich than others.
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