Regarding Gore's "100% renewable electricity in ten years" proposal
This morning, I received an email which reads in part:
Dear Mr. Summers:
I think I know the answer you will provide is "yes" but I'll ask anyway. Will you commit to support a program that achieves the goal that Vice President Gore set out: "...to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years" (Al Gore, July 17, 2008)? ...So, now the question is what should the plan for achieving the Gore plan be? Do you have thoughts on this that you can share with me?
My slightly edited reply follows:
Dear Sir:
Thank you very much for your thoughtful email.
Of course I support the Gore position: one hundred percent carbon-free electricity in ten years.
How shall we achieve it?
We'll begin by imposing a steep carbon tax (including both petroleum and coal) and depositing the proceeds into a special trust fund for application to "energy retooling" projects.
For implementation, we'll start (of course) with our public buildings. Solar/wind/geothermal. Insulation. Energy-efficient doors and windows. And as we can, we'll step down the colossal electrical grids and move to generation on a municipal basis.
But I also propose public policy initiatives that you'd not expect from most candidates for Congress.
We'll set up a Roosevelt-style "Civilian Conservation Corps" dedicated to retrofitting homes and businesses across the nation for energy efficiency. And we'll put our youth and unemployed to work. The funding? Fifty-fifty private-public matches, with the public match coming from the new carbon tax trust fund.
Public lighting of all kinds can go hybrid. For safety reasons, traffic lights probably will always have to be on grid. But why can't we have traffic lights and street lights each equipped with tiny windmills and battery packs as their principal energy sources, with grid backup?
How about sewage treatment facilities that use windmills to help aerate wastewater? You get the idea.
We must completely revamp and strengthen building codes. The Building Officials and Code Administrators (BOCA) municipal code models and the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program come to mind. Groups such as the American Institute of Architects will be instrumental.
Public works and smart building and design standards will help point the way. But make no mistake: energy responsibility is, at its core, personal responsibility. None of this will work very well in the absence of what I'm calling "Individual Initiative".
Specifically -- we all need to go on an "Energy Diet". Americans per capita use more energy than any other people in the world. Turn off the air conditioning and turn on a fan in the summer. Put on a sweater and turn down the thermostat in winter. (Ironically, this is precisely what Jimmy Carter suggested thirty years ago. He was, of course, correct!)
I'd like to take as much energy production as possible off grid, and see people take the initiative with developing what I'll call "backyard energy" consistent with their living situations. (This will not work for everyone, e.g., apartment dwellers.)
Education is critical. Introduce schoolchildren -- and hence their families -- to backyard energy concepts AT THE OUTSET with simple demonstrations and experiments that tie to science homework. A flashlight bulb that runs off of a tiny solar panel. An FM radio that runs off of a tabletop windmill or a handturned crank. Homegrown demonstrations will help acclimate people to the idea that "backyard energy" is plausible.
(Contrast what I've just sketched out to the positions of my opponents. The Republican incumbent wants to drill aggressively for oil. And the Democrat wants to build one hundred new nuclear power plants.)
In short -- we've all "gotta wanna" get to carbon-free electricity in ten years. And me, well -- I wanna.
I hope you'll excuse a bit of personal swagger, but -- I'm especially well suited to be a Congressman who truly will be a servant-leader. I really am a candidate who stands apart. I am free to articulate bold public policy. Politically, I am beholden to no one.
I hope that this quick on-the-fly email is sufficiently responsive. And I hope that you will spread the word about my candidacy. As you surely can discern -- I'm in a decidedly uphill race.
Thanks again for contacting me.
Scott Summers
Dear Mr. Summers:
I think I know the answer you will provide is "yes" but I'll ask anyway. Will you commit to support a program that achieves the goal that Vice President Gore set out: "...to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years" (Al Gore, July 17, 2008)? ...So, now the question is what should the plan for achieving the Gore plan be? Do you have thoughts on this that you can share with me?
My slightly edited reply follows:
Dear Sir:
Thank you very much for your thoughtful email.
Of course I support the Gore position: one hundred percent carbon-free electricity in ten years.
How shall we achieve it?
We'll begin by imposing a steep carbon tax (including both petroleum and coal) and depositing the proceeds into a special trust fund for application to "energy retooling" projects.
For implementation, we'll start (of course) with our public buildings. Solar/wind/geothermal. Insulation. Energy-efficient doors and windows. And as we can, we'll step down the colossal electrical grids and move to generation on a municipal basis.
But I also propose public policy initiatives that you'd not expect from most candidates for Congress.
We'll set up a Roosevelt-style "Civilian Conservation Corps" dedicated to retrofitting homes and businesses across the nation for energy efficiency. And we'll put our youth and unemployed to work. The funding? Fifty-fifty private-public matches, with the public match coming from the new carbon tax trust fund.
Public lighting of all kinds can go hybrid. For safety reasons, traffic lights probably will always have to be on grid. But why can't we have traffic lights and street lights each equipped with tiny windmills and battery packs as their principal energy sources, with grid backup?
How about sewage treatment facilities that use windmills to help aerate wastewater? You get the idea.
We must completely revamp and strengthen building codes. The Building Officials and Code Administrators (BOCA) municipal code models and the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program come to mind. Groups such as the American Institute of Architects will be instrumental.
Public works and smart building and design standards will help point the way. But make no mistake: energy responsibility is, at its core, personal responsibility. None of this will work very well in the absence of what I'm calling "Individual Initiative".
Specifically -- we all need to go on an "Energy Diet". Americans per capita use more energy than any other people in the world. Turn off the air conditioning and turn on a fan in the summer. Put on a sweater and turn down the thermostat in winter. (Ironically, this is precisely what Jimmy Carter suggested thirty years ago. He was, of course, correct!)
I'd like to take as much energy production as possible off grid, and see people take the initiative with developing what I'll call "backyard energy" consistent with their living situations. (This will not work for everyone, e.g., apartment dwellers.)
Education is critical. Introduce schoolchildren -- and hence their families -- to backyard energy concepts AT THE OUTSET with simple demonstrations and experiments that tie to science homework. A flashlight bulb that runs off of a tiny solar panel. An FM radio that runs off of a tabletop windmill or a handturned crank. Homegrown demonstrations will help acclimate people to the idea that "backyard energy" is plausible.
(Contrast what I've just sketched out to the positions of my opponents. The Republican incumbent wants to drill aggressively for oil. And the Democrat wants to build one hundred new nuclear power plants.)
In short -- we've all "gotta wanna" get to carbon-free electricity in ten years. And me, well -- I wanna.
I hope you'll excuse a bit of personal swagger, but -- I'm especially well suited to be a Congressman who truly will be a servant-leader. I really am a candidate who stands apart. I am free to articulate bold public policy. Politically, I am beholden to no one.
I hope that this quick on-the-fly email is sufficiently responsive. And I hope that you will spread the word about my candidacy. As you surely can discern -- I'm in a decidedly uphill race.
Thanks again for contacting me.
Scott Summers
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