For over thirty years, America’s energy policy has been summed up in two words: Cheap Gas!!

Every president since Richard Nixon has called for “energy independence”.  To them energy independence means ending dependence on foreign oil.  You can hear them in this video:

http://endependence.info/research/videos-c-12-v-65.html

Despite the talk, there has been no action.  America’s drive toward energy independence is in neutral.  In fact, since Nixon’s time, we have slid backward to the point where over 60% of our oil comes from other countries.  It used to be only 30%.

Can we blame the backsliding on the politicians?  Mostly, no.  We have to blame ourselves.

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Think of this:

You have a state regulated company that sells a product with harmful side effects.

Your state government decides that it is in the public interest to minimize the harmful side effects.

The solution: let the company charge its customers to pay for  the program that encourages the customers to buy less of the product.

Does this make sense to you?

On December 9, 2008, Endependence was at the California “2008 Center for the Study of Energy Markets Policy Conference”.  Policy wonk stuff if there ever was some.  Lots of very smart people working to improve energy efficiency in the Golden State.  Scientists, public policy administrators, academics, advocacy groups, and utilities all got together to figure out ways to craft public policy that will increase energy efficiency (decrease energy waste?).

Don’t get the wrong impression.  California is so far ahead of the rest of the country in the areas of energy efficiency that comparisons to other states are ludicrous.  The average Californian uses about 1/3 of the energy that the average Texan uses.  There are myriad reasons for this, but one of the big reasons is that California has been working on energy efficiency for years.  They even have a bureaucratic department in charge, the California Energy Commission.

http://www.energy.ca.gov/

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