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  • From: bobf <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Homestead] Obama - Energy- Prosperity
  • Date: Sat, 17 Jan 2009 05:11:27 -0800 (PST)

Yesterday, Bev and others were talking about enrgy origins in a qualitative
manner that was beyond my base of knowledge of the subject .
To be honest, other than how it affects me, my family and friends , and the
planet, in general, I'm not interested enough, probably, to learn much more.

I do believe in conservation and I believe that the use of coal and oil and
such causes pollution, which affect me, mine , and the planet. So, I like
these 'alternative' energy ideas. I also think they can help with our
national security and soverignty. But, once again, I don't know enough to
know just how realistic and how useful any of these ideas are for the
forseeable future.

I did like Boone Picken's ideas about autos running on natural gas, we seem
to have plenty of that here in this country. Solar, if they could get the
priced right, would be perfect for where I live -- though we would still need
hydro or nuclear for the millions of A/C units. Anyway this article is from
this am WSJ aabout President - Elect Obama and his interest in 'alternative'
energy sources.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

JANUARY 17, 2009

Obama Ties Energy to Prosperity Article

President-elect Barack Obama visited an Ohio company that manufactures
wind-turbine parts to make the case for his economic-stimulus package,
underscoring his push to link alternative energy and jobs.

Mr. Obama's visit came as oil prices hovered near their lowest level in 4½
years, illustrating the challenge his administration will face in trying to
displace fossil fuels with cleaner but more costly forms of energy. Oil
futures in New York rose 3.1% Friday to $36.51 a barrel as the International
Energy Agency revised its estimate for 2009 demand downward by 940,000
barrels a day.

Mr. Obama has pledged to double over three years the amount of U.S. wind,
solar and geothermal generating capacity, which is currently around 25,000
megawatts. In a down payment on that effort, House Democrats unveiled an
economic-stimulus package Thursday that calls for $20 billion of tax cuts for
renewable-energy production and an additional $54 billion of spending to
modernize the country's aging electricity grid, and to make homes, vehicles
and buildings more energy efficient. For wind power, the bill would extend by
three years a production tax credit currently set to expire at the end of
2009.


President-elect Barack Obama was in Bedford Heights, Ohio, on Friday, meeting
employees of Cardinal Fastener & Specialty Co., which makes specialty screws
and bolts needed for construction and wind turbines.
On Friday, Mr. Obama tried to connect spending on energy with American jobs,
noting that his hosts, Cardinal Fastener & Specialty Co., hired two people
this week. Mr. Obama said passage of the stimulus plan is critical to helping
companies that don't have access to financing because of frozen credit
markets. He said that half the wind projects planned for the U.S. this year
could be abandoned without federal aid, and that other countries, including
Spain, Germany and Japan, are investing in renewable energy and "surging
ahead of us."

"A renewable-energy economy isn't something pie-in-the-sky, it's not part of
a far-off future," Mr. Obama said. "It's happening all across America right
now. It's providing alternatives to foreign oil now. It can create millions
of additional jobs and entire new industries if we act right now."

Cardinal, located in a Cleveland suburb, began selling its bolts, screws and
other parts to companies that build wind towers two years ago. Wind customers
now account for about 20% of Cardinal's business, a company spokeswoman said.

The stimulus plan enjoys strong support among Americans, particularly aspects
aimed at creating jobs, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll
released this week. But skeptics of Mr. Obama's energy-related goals have
said there isn't enough manufacturing capacity in the U.S. to build all the
wind turbines needed to meet his goal.

A fundamental challenge for boosting the use of alternative energy is that
fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas remain cheap. This gives them a big
advantage over renewable sources, especially in an economic downturn, for
consumers worried about energy bills. Coal-generated electricity costs 6.4
cents per kilowatt-hour, compared with 9.1 cents per kilowatt-hour for wind,
according to the Electric Power Research Institute, a nonprofit group based
in Palo Alto, Calif.

Mr. Obama's aides have rejected calls from some economists, environmentalists
and business leaders to levy a carbon-based tax on fossil fuels, saying such
a tax wouldn't guarantee the big reductions in U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions
Mr. Obama has called for.








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