Point one: I am tonight setting a clear goal for the energy policy of the United States. Beginning this moment, this nation will never use more foreign oil than we did in 1977 -- never.
How?
I'm asking you for your good and for your nation's security to take no unnecessary trips, to use carpools or public transportation whenever you can, to park your car one extra day per week, to obey the speed limit, and to set your thermostats to save fuel. Every act of energy conservation like this is more than just common sense -- I tell you it is an act of patriotism.
Of course, good technocratic Democrat that he is, he also had things like import quotas on oil, a broad commitment to US energy sources like solar (paid for by a windfall profits tax on oil companies), more coal (which the US has a lot of), and of course, conservation.
How'd he do? Oil imports are at a new all-time high. Obama's solution is similarly focused on unrealistic solutions, such as inflating our tires and getting more car tune-ups. He notes a 10% fuel efficiency increase by such a method, while critics say more like 3% (has anyone ever noticed a 10% increase by inflating their tires?). But the problem is some inefficiency has to be expected, and you can always point to some inevitable waste as a cheaper solution than something more tangible, like drilling for more oil, or going nuclear, because at the margin, moving from our suboptimal level of inflated tires to the optimal level is as great as any other policy, which will also be marginal.
I'm for inflating tires optimally, but if people aren't saving 3-10% on energy because of their own laziness, even though it directly affects their pocketbooks, it's implausible to expect this solution to make any difference. In sum, I would start building more clean coal plants (we have lots of coal), more nuclear. That can be done now, and would allow more electric cars to be charged.
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