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Unity of thought regarding Energy Policy?

Both big business and the military are echoing the sentiments of the green community.

A May 2009 report signed by 12 retired senior military officials states: "As we consider America’s current energy posture, we do so from a singular perspective: We gauge our energy choices solely by their impact on America’s national security. Our dependence on foreign oil reduces our international leverage, places our troops in dangerous global regions, funds nations and individuals who wish us harm, and weakens our economy; our dependency and inefficient use of oil also puts our troops at risk."
In August 2011, the US Army created the Energy Initiatives Office Task Force. "To meet a goal of 25 percent renewable energy by 2025, the Army must use every opportunity to be energy efficient and draw power from alternative and/or renewable energy sources." - Secretary of the Army John McHugh. Read the Energy Initiatives Office article here.

A Group of business leaders, including Bill Gates, have formed an organization called the American Energy Innovation Council.  The AEIC released a 40 page report.  Here is an excerpt from the report's Executive Summary: "As business leaders, we feel that America’s current energy system is deficient in ways that cause serious harm to our economy, our national security, and our environment."  The report includes facts and figures, and a plan for a national energy policy that includes both legislation and funding.

U.S. Dept of Energy Secretary Steven Chu, in a November 2010 presentation, highlighted several crucial technologies where the United States must innovate or risk falling far behind, such as:

1. High Voltage Transmission. China has deployed the world's first Ultra High Voltage AC and DC lines - including one capable of delivering 6.4 gigawatts to Shanghai from a hydroelectric plant nearly 1300 miles away in southwestern China.  These lines are more efficient and carry much more power over longer distances than those in the United States.
2. High Speed Rail. In the span of six years, China has gone from importing this technology to exporting it, with the world's fastest train and the world's largest high speed rail network, which will become larger than the rest of the world combined by the end of the decade.  Some short distance plane routes have already been cancelled, and train travel from Beijing to Shanghai (roughly equivalent to New York to Chicago) has been cut from 11 hours to 4 hours.
3. Advanced Coal Technologies. China is rapidly deploying supercritical and ultra-supercritical coal combustion plants, which have fewer emissions and are more efficient than conventional coal plants because they burn coal at much higher temperatures and pressures.  Last month, Secretary Chu toured an ultra-supercritical plant in Shanghai which claims to be 45 to 48 percent efficient.  The most efficient U.S. plants are about 40 percent efficient.  China is also moving quickly to design and deploy technologies for Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) plants as well as Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).
4. Nuclear Power. China has more than 30 nuclear power plants under construction, more than any other country in the world, and is actively researching fourth generation nuclear power technologies.
5. Alternative Energy Vehicles. China has developed a draft plan to invest $17 billion in central government funds in fuel economy, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, electric and fuel cell vehicles, with the goal of producing 5 million new energy vehicles and 15 million fuel-efficient conventional vehicles by 2020.
6. Renewable Energy. China is installing wind power at a faster rate than any nation in the world, and manufactures 40 percent of the world's solar photovoltaic (PV) systems.  It is home to three of the world's top ten wind turbine manufacturers and five of the top ten silicon based PV manufacturers in the world.
7. Supercomputing. Last month, the Tianhe-1A, developed by China's National University of Defense Technology, became the world's fastest supercomputer.  While the United States - and the Department of Energy in particular - still has unrivalled expertise in the useful application of high performance computers to advance scientific research and develop technology, America must continue to improve the speed and capacity of our advanced supercomputers.

Download Secretary Chu's presentation Here:

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