Sure, he's correct on the wide variety of needs and the humongous needs that a robust economy demands.
But, the U.S. could have been energy independent many years ago. The only reason that we are not, is because of the many hurdles put in front of the energy sector by a massive number of regulations which prevents them from seeking and developing the huge number of energy sources available to the oil and coal and natural gas industry. Whatever is being developed now, is in spite of the attempts to handcuff the energy industry, and if government had its way, we could all be riding around in bicycles and waking to most places we need to get to.
When people focus on just one narrow aspect of the overall problems with our demands for energy, then, the most important questions won't be addressed.
SmartPlanet energy columnist Chris Nelder was recently interviewed by WHYY-FM (Philadelphia) reporter Susan Phillips for a segment for National Public Radio’s “StateImpact Pennsylvania” series.
The radio piece is a tight look at why the United States can’t kick its energy import habit — and a nice summary of the columns Nelder has been writing for us since he first joined SmartPlanet in October 2011.
An excerpt of Nelder’s comments on the radio segment:
Part of the reason why we’ve failed to reach energy independence for the last many many decades is because economic growth goes hand in hand with energy consumption. And our economy runs on fossil fuels. We need oil for transportation we need natural gas for things like fertilizer, and petrochemicals. And we need coal for things like steel.
You can listen to the entire thing — it’s about five minutes long — here.
Photo: U.S. president Barack Obama tours the DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center with Lew Hey, chairman and CEO of FPL Group, left, and Greg Bove, FPL construction manager, in Arcadia, Fla., in Oct. 2009. (Chuck Kennedy/The White House)
