With the conclusion of the 2012 Presidential Election, there are many parts of the American society that need addressing. Looking back at the major talking points of this election, the issues of Energy and Clean Energy Production were among the most important. With Obama securing his reelection a pertinent question is begging to be asked: What has Obama done so far to address the energy crisis in America? In order to answer this question one must first look at the state of the Energy industry at the beginning of his first term as President.
During 2008(Bush’s last year in office), “non-hydro” resources such as solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass, accounted for a mere 3 percent of total energy generation(about 10,500 GWh). In addition, the total amount of renewable energy generated accounted for about 10 percent of total energy generated(417.72 TWh). Even more troubling was our dependence on foreign oil being as high as 58 percent. Obama took office in a nation with an energy industry that was making very little progress.
As Obama took office, he called for a shift in focus to decreasing the nation’s dependence on foreign energy resources by increasing the use of renewable energy resources produced domestically. As a part of accomplishing the goals of this clean energy initiative, Obama more than tripled the government’s investment in clean energy sectors such as smart power grids, renewable power, energy efficiency, and electric cars. These investments accounted for the generation of about 225,000 new jobs. In 2009, Obama also gained approval from the Department of Interior for 29 onshore renewable energy projects(7 of which were designated for wind energy).
Figure 1: Obama Energy Agenda
As is shown by Figure 1, strides and major improvements to the clean energy sector have been made since Obama initially took office. As a result of Obama’s clean energy initiative, U.S dependence on foreign oil has dropped from about 56 percent in 2008 to 45 percent in 2011, and is expected to only keep dropping. Also, electricity generation from wind and solar energy has increased by nearly 71 and 40.3 percent, respectively, between 2008 and 2010. Also, U.S renewable energy generation has increased from 417.72 TWh in 2008 to 520.07 TWh in 2011. So, to answer the question posed initially, the U.S has made significant strides to increasing energy production by renewable sources(wind, solar, geothermal, hydroelectric, etc). under the Obama administration. And it only expected to get even better.
Works Cited:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_the_United_States
http://www.whitehouse.gov/energy/gasprices
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/08/obamas-we-cant-wait-initiative-will-power-1-5-million-homes1
http://www.barackobama.com/energyfacts/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/10/04/a-closer-look-at-obamas-90-billion-for-clean-energy/
http://www.zazzle.com/obama_oil_independence_graph_invitations-161481370676347855
2 Comments
sgrace posted on December 10, 2012 at 2:42 pm
Is it really true that the reduction in dependence on foreign oil has come about because of the increase in renewable energy? Or is it simply because domestic oil production has increased?
rpoirier posted on December 10, 2012 at 4:34 pm
Professor Grace brings up a good point.
According to http://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/current_year/september2011.pdf renewable energy accounted for just 14.3% of domestically produced electricity in the first six months of 2011 in the US. Compared to 45% dependence on foreign oil, and 85.7% overall on non renewable electricity produced domestically, renewable energy still has a ways to go in America.