The Obama Energy Plan
SEARCH BLOG: OBAMA and ENERGY
Few video clips give us a better insight into the intentions of our current president offers than this:
Are these the words of a visionary or a political hack? Let's look at the facts.
The President has effectively shut down the domestic oil industry in the Gulf of Mexico. That despite ample evidence that the BP mess is unrelated to the activities of hundreds of other oil rigs and the livelihood of thousands of people employed on those rigs or associated with them. But that is small potatoes compared to what he wants to do with our national electrical energy production.
The Energy Information Agency of our Federal government provides monthly updates of the sources from which our electrical energy is produced. Below are excerpts from the March, 2010 report [the latest available as of this date]:
Year-to-date, total net generation increased 2.4 percent from 2009 levels. Net generation attributable to coal-fired plants rose 5.0 percent. Natural gas-fired generation was up 2.9 percent. Conversely, nuclear generation declined 1.5 percent, and petroleum liquid-fired generation was down 37.9 percent.
Year-to-date, coal-fired plants contributed 47.7 percent of the power generated in the United States. Nuclear plants contributed 20.4 percent, and natural gas-fired plants also contributed 20.4 percent. Of the 0.9 percent contributed by petroleum-fired plants, petroleum liquids represented 0.6 percent, with the remainder from petroleum coke. Conventional hydroelectric sources provided 6.4 percent of the total, while other renewables (biomass, geothermal, solar, and wind) and other miscellaneous energy sources generated the remaining 4.0 percent of electric power (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Net Generation Shares by Energy Source:
Total (All Sectors), Year-to-Date through March, 2010
Consumption of Fuels: Consumption of coal for power generation in March 2010 was up 6.4 percent compared to March 2009. For the same time period, consumption of petroleum liquids was down 38.5 percent, while petroleum coke fell 10.2 percent. Consumption of natural gas declined 8.6 percent. [source page]The U.S. is pouring billions of dollars into subsidizing "renewable" energy sources, yet coal not only continues to provide the largest absolute amount of electricity, but has increased 5% year-to-date while some other sources have fallen... including nuclear power which is our major non-fossil fuel source of reliable energy.
Mr. Obama has shown himself to be a prestidigitator of words related to our energy future. The question is: what's your plan, Mr. President? How do you plan to rebuild the energy sector you are targeting for destruction?
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