Confronting Energy Efficiency in an Election Year

John McCain and Barack Obama would push energy efficiency as a means of addressing future constraints and security, according to a series of speakers who gathered at the 19th Annual Energy Efficiency Forum last week.

The theme of the forum revolved around the ways in which the next president will drive large-scale energy efficiency programs based on current public and private sector initiatives. Johnson Controls Inc. and the U.S. Energy Association sponsored the event held at the National Press Club.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman and U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman delivered keynote speeches. Friedman, author of the upcoming book, “Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution - and How It Can Renew America,” called for a sense of urgency in battling energy issues and climate change.

"I would be less than truthful, though, if I said that America as it operates today is ready for this mission,” Friedman said. “We are not."

Bodman spoke about the areas in which government is trying to drive efficiency, such as military bases, new appliances and in the utility, industrial and construction sectors.

“When we look across our global energy landscape and consider the formidable challenges we face today, it is clear we must make pervasive and long-term changes,” Bodman said. “We must bring more renewable energy online and aggressively deploy alternative fuels. We must develop traditional hydrocarbon resources in ways that are cleaner and more efficient.”

Bodman spoke about the necessity of expanding nuclear power generation capacity, a notion echoed by former Senator George Allen, who was on hand to describe McCain’s energy policy.

"What Senator McCain as president would do is propose a national energy strategy that will amount to a declaration of independence from energy insecurity and he'll promote diversification and conservation of our energy resources," Allen said.

In addition to expanding nuclear power, McCain wants to bolster domestic oil and natural gas exploration in receptive areas and clean coal technologies to utilize the abundant but polluting resource, Allen said. McCain opposes mandatory building standards and supports sparking greater demand for best technologies and practices by using government purcashing power.

Obama sees the need for buildings to be 25 percent more efficient in the next decade, and 50 percent more efficient by 2030, according to Jason Grumet, the executive director of the National Commission on Energy Policy who spoke about Obama’s energy policy. The America public has recognized that the country needs a “course correction.”

“I think Senator Obama fundamentally understands that these are problems that are different in character and shape than almost anything we have ever had to deal with, certainly in the energy sector,” Grumet said.