In his recent State of the Union address, George W Bush talked about, and seemed to support, many of the most promising areas of renewable energy. With the current global political climate, and our war in Iraq (that seems to be becoming more about oil every day), it is no surprise that the White House would want to address the security of the nation’s energy supply. The Bush administration does not have a good track record with environmental issues, but it may just be that we have reached a point where the goals of the environmentalists and the politicians have finally met.  Despite my natural optimism, my political views combined with history make it very difficult for me to believe the goals of the Bush administration.  However, with two major exceptions, if the White House sticks to its stated intentions, the US might finally be on the right track with its energy policy.

The points I’m most excited about:

  • Reducing gasoline consumption through improved vehicle efficiency, gasoline alternatives (like ethanol), and reductions in commuting and congestion.
  • More research into hybrid vehicles, especially plug-in hybrids.
  • Increasing the supply of renewable fuels.

The points that make me cringe:

  • More nuclear energy.  First, it’s not a renewable resource, and second, it creates toxic byproducts that last for hundreds of years.  People are starting to talk about nuclear as green energy and that makes me crazy.  It is so NOT green.
  • More domestic oil production, especially in the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge.  Aside from my feeling that we should protect the few wild places we have left, I don’t like a policy of bleeding our country dry of oil first.  If anything, we should preserve what oil we have while we develop renewables further to take the place of foreign oil imports.

Some people think that any State of the Union address is nothing but lip service regardless of who delivered it.  I don’t agree with that.  I have to say that I am very impressed with the majority of the stated goals set out in the new energy policy from the Bush White House, but it’s much easier to talk about doing things than it is to actually do them.  We will see if this administration puts its money where its mouth is.

Check out the full policy here.