The following was submitted by David Holt, President of Consumer Energy Alliance, in response to the National Journal’s Expert Blog on Monday, October 4th entitled, “Oil Habit: How Can Cars Get Clean?”
With 80% of all the oil used in America today going to the transportation sector, the question we have to ask ourselves as a country is how quickly can we really move away from oil? Two transportation companies that have publicly stated they are actively working to decrease their reliance on oil, DHL and FedEx, have less than 5% of their fleets right now using alternative energy.
While it’s critical that we implement policies that encourage the increased use of electric cars and natural gas fueled trucks, the reality is that the technology for widespread adoption is not there yet, and it will take no less than 60 years to reduce our current oil consumption levels. We simply cannot move from an oil economy to an alternative energy economy overnight. And it’s certainly not economically viable for our economy right now.
While Congress works to incentivize the great innovators of our country to come up with technologically and economically viable options for our country’s transportation needs, it’s just as critical that we continue to fight to ensure that we have access to affordable energy now. CEA believes that a balanced energy policy — one that promotes affordable and consistent access to domestic energy, protects oil industry jobs and stimulates economic development — is an integral to keeping our economy healthy enough to identify future alternative sources of energy.
To read the Expert Blog, click here.
