Energy Stupid Vs. Energy Smart: It’s About What People Do
Posted in: 2008 Election, Economics, Energy
Two recent stories on hardships ordinary Americans face from high energy costs highlight profound philosophical differences between McCain and Obama in how each approaches energy policy. The tire pressure exchange is a metaphor for this debate, but our media, mesmerized by sound bites and celebrity ads, can’t seem to explain this to the American public.
The LA Times reported Thursday on the alarming number of utility shut-offs occurring nationwide, with consumers unable to pay summer electricity bills.
In Michigan, which had the nation’s highest unemployment rate in June — 8.5% — Detroit-based DTE Energy reported a 56% increase in utility shut-offs for nonpayment of bills for the first five months of this year compared with the same period a year ago.
Southern California Edison Co. reported that service was shut off to about 165,000 of its 4.8 million customer accounts from January through May this year, a 14% increase from the same period in 2007.
The Boston Globe reports similar grim prospects will face consumers next winter when high fuel oil and natural gas prices drive up heating bills.
The increase will have an especially dramatic impact on the nearly 1 million households that are heated with oil, which now sells for about $4.70 a gallon, up from $2.59 a year ago, according to the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources.
Heating costs are expected to keep rising, the report says. The state’s average household oil bill next year could top $3,000, according to the report by the UMass Donahue Institute, a university think tank. All told, consumers can expect to spend $4.45 billion for gas and oil heat in 2009 – a $469 million increase from 2008.
Low and moderate income Americans deperately need relief from high energy bills. With no near term supply solutions to drive down prices, consumers can most quickly benefit by reducing demand, which immediately lowers energy bills and attacks prices. Low-income consumers also need direct financial assistance, either through tax rebates or direct subsidies via Low Income Energy Assistance Programs. (Obama’s plans include both.)
The recent McCain/Obama exchanges about "drill here, drill now" versus properly inflating your tires symbolize how each approaches these problems. McCain and a unified Republican chorus are engaging in what Paul Krugman calls "know-nothing politics," ("stupidity is the best policy"), stamping their feet until we give oil companies rights to drill for more supplies. They scoff at individual measures, denying they accomplish much and belittling Obama for an "energy plan" based only on tire gauges. In the meantime, Republicans repeatedly obstruct efforts to increase LIEAP or tax oil to pay for it.
The McCain/Republican message is clear: ordinary Americans can’t solve their energy problems; only the supply (oil) companies can save us. Individual actions don’t add up to a policy; they’re just a "public service message."
But as Phoenix Woman and others note, Obama is right about the tire gauges. Not only does proper tire inflation achieve significant gasoline savings, it saves more gasoline than McCain’s off-shore drilling produces. And that lesson is true for many other individual actions.
The fact is, intelligent energy policy begins with individual actions, along with government initiatives designed to encourage ordinary people to take lots of little steps that collectively make a huge difference in how much energy we use and how large our energy bills are. Sure, a comprehensive plan also needs big corporations to do big things with lots of government encouragement. That’s all in Obama’s plan. But individual actions are the foundation of a sound plan, not an afterthought.
California radically altered its energy future beginning 30 years ago by encouraging people to make small changes. Replacing light bulbs, checking attic insulation, wrapping water heaters, caulking around windows and doors, using set-back thermostats, proper shading (plant trees!), buying more efficient appliances — these were all encouraged and many required in building codes. And as Bob Herbert notes, Californians now use less energy per capita for heating, cooling and lighting their homes than anyone in America. That made it easier for the supply companies to keep up.
So McCain is not just technically wrong, he’s foolishly wrong about just letting the oil companies "solve" this. Checking your tire pressure is not just smart for you. It and dozen of actions like it are the foundation for a smart, sustainable and more affordable energy policy.
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