United States energy policy

Recognition of the continuing instability of the oil supply was demonstrated by Iraq s invasion of Kuwait in mid-1990 and the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, and the price volatility of oil has begun to lead to the realization that the lack of a United States energy policy... 

DeCicco, J. Mark, J. Meeting the energy and climate challenge for transportation in the United States. Energy Policy 1998, 26, 395-412. 

An effective transition of the nation s energy base from petroleum to alternate energy sources will require relatively large capital investments. Incentives to make these investments will be influenced by our nation s capability to control its money supply and execute a desired monetary policy. The United States faces the sobering task of designing a technology development plan and implementing it. Its development and implementation will require an effective United States monetary policy. 

The E/GDP for the United States has sloped steadily downward from 18,000 to 11,000 Btu/. Europe and Japan are typically only half as energy-intensive as the United States. An explanation is that, during their development. Western Europe and Japan were petroleum-poor compared to the United States, so energy use was perceived to imply imports (and risk of supply disruption) and trade deficits. Thus, they adopted tax policies to conseive energy. The United States took the opposite path to stimulate economic growth, domestic oil and gas production was subsidized. 

Another U.S. policy to attain energy independence was to force all Alaskan North Slope crude oil to he consumed inside the United States and not be allowed to he exported. The problem was that North Slope crude oil is relatively heavy and not suitable for west coast fuel needs. The mismatch of supply and demand caused California refineries to sell heavy distillate fuels abroad and import lighter fuel additives. Furthermore, the forced selling of Alaska crude oil on a very saturated west coast market caused Alaska crude prices to he 1 to 5 per barrel less than the international price, resulting in less oil exploration and development in Alaska. The upshot of all this was lower tax revenue, a loss of jobs in the oil fields, and less oil exploration and development on the North Slope. The United States actually exported heavy bunker fuel oil at a loss, as opposed to the profit that could have been attained by simply exporting crude oil directly. 

A major element of energy policy in leading industrial countries such as the United States, Germany, Britain, Japan, and France has been provision of substantial aid to existing energy industries. Part of the... 

United States oil and utility industry companies spend over 100 million to influence federal government energy policy. 

How do we take a future-oriented approach to research on energy and metals What criteria do we use to set research priorities Short-term projections of prices and availability of resources are poor guides to a national policy for research. It is virtually impossible to predict the course that energy prices will take over the next few years or to prognosticate political events that might affect the snpply of key minerals to the United States. The most anyone can say is that oil prices will rise and that a real threat exists to the stability of onr snpply of several key minerals. 

A more limited, but potentially quite useful, step would be to establish in the United States a nuclear energy "think tank" where alternative nuclear futures could be analyzed critically by participants from universities, industry, government agencies, and private policy groups. The goal would be to further the safety and economy of nuclear power. 

The United States passed the Energy Policy Act in 1992. One goal was to reduce the amount of petroleum used for transportation by promoting the use of alternative fuels in cars and light trucks. These fuels included natural gas, methanol, ethanol, propane, electricity, and biodiesel. Alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) can operate on these fuels and many are dual fueled also running on gasoline. 

Under the National Energy Policy Act of 1992 nonpetroleum-based transportation fuels are to be introduced in the United States. Such fuels include natural gas (see Gas, natural), liquefied petroleum gas (qv) (LPG), methanol (qv), ethanol (qv), and hydrogen (qv), although hydrogen fuels are not expected to be a factor until after the year 2000 (see also Alcohol FUELS Hydrogen energy). 

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