Oil: What’s the goal Mr. President?

Good for another 30 years

End foreign oil dependence when?

Buyers and fans of hybrid and plug-in vehicles want to do something to fight foreign oil dependence, pollution, etc.. So, we put our money where our mouths are and financially commit to reducing our personal responsibility. Unfortunately, however, there won’t be enough of us to end foreign oil dependence for decades according to a massive amount of evidence.

Can anything else be done?

That question has largely been driving this blog for some time, and long time plug-in advocate, Felix Kramer of CalCars, agrees. Furthermore, it’s time for the President to be the President he promised to be during his campaign.

I woke up this morning with the title, ‘What are we accomplishing?’ brewing in my head. As buyers of hybrid cars and plug-in vehicles, we often feel we’ve done our part. We’ve invested in reducing our foreign oil dependence, pollution and the many other problems those issues cause. We voted for a President that promised to be different and end foreign oil dependence within a decade.

Still, what is really being accomplished? Moreover, has the President and/or Congress put forth any sort of plan that can end foreign oil dependence within a decade? Two decades? Three?

Sadly, probably not based on a plethora of available evidence.

Case in point, plug-in vehicles. According to the experts, current lithium-ion technologies will forever be cost-ineffective to achieve mass adoption. A revolutionary breakthrough is still yet required. However, even if an amazing lithium-ion battery breakthrough were achieved today, such as perfecting lithium-air batteries, it would still take about a decade to get this technology into plug-in vehicles according to battery experts from Argonne, for instance, one of the biggest experts on lithium technology in the world. Then another decade or two to scale this new technology into a majority of vehicles, and that means decades of foreign oil dependence.

Likewise for fuel cells and hydrogen.

That doesn’t mean we should give up on electrically powered vehicles, but it does mean that we should be asking, ‘What else can we do?’ Furthermore, based on the last 30 years of foreign oil dependence, can we really believe that oil dependency problems aren’t going to exacerbate significantly in the coming years?

Again, what is being accomplished? Does anyone even care? And, then, my frustration percolates into madness.

But, just as I was about to delete this whole post, I read about the CalCars Drive Star Conversion Program which seeks to create a nationwide program converting guzzlers into plug-in vehicles. Ironically, while I’m generally supportive of the idea, I have serious doubts about its potential effectiveness. For instance, such a program would almost assuredly shut down the just-bailed-out US auto industry by significantly squashing new auto sales, especially on the most profitable vehicles, unless exceptionally well-crafted, and I doubt either Congress nor US auto corporations are smart enough to achieve such exceptionalism.

Nonetheless, this is EXACTLY the kind of out-of-the-box thinking we should be contemplating as President, as Congress, as people. This is OUR future, and our future isn’t looking all that bright today. Without doubt, we can do better.

Sure, we can blame BP, Bush, Islamic-extremism, automakers, consumers etc., etc., but blame won’t get the job done. Blame won’t achieve change, and we only need look at the last 30 years of energy politics to prove that point.

Without question, ending foreign oil dependence is a far more difficult task than it would seem prima facie, which is why so many Presidents have talked about this issue, but failed to achieve any real impact. Unfortunately, to date President Obama appears little different than the rest of his predecessors. Certainly, he’s possibly talked a better game, but what is talk really but hot air?

Even more important, oil dependence CANNOT be a partisan issue. Besides, both political parties have benefited from the status quo of the oil economy. Cheap oil hasn’t just enriched Haliburton-esque Republicans, but UAW Democrats, for instance, for decades. And it goes much deeper than that. Anything connected to corn for example – which is just about everything in America these days – is inextricably linked to cheap oil. Likewise, a significant percent of Americans have investments – in most pension funds -  in not just BP, but in many oil-related companies

Ultimately, America and all Americans are the epitome of cheap, dirty oil. Consequently, let’s just be honest, if we’re all to blame, blame won’t lead to change. Blame will only drive a greater wedge between the people and result in even less change.

Thus, CalCars, in advance of the President’s upcoming Gulf disaster address on Tuesday, is challenging the President to draw a line in the sand, to commit to reducing oil dependence by 50 percent by 2020.

Nonsense? A good start?

Perhaps the Drive Star Conversion program is completely flawed, but I don’t really think that matters right now. It’s the urgency of setting a real goal, of challenging America to achieve a level of greatness that will reward all Americans. If the President can rally America, and I mean AMERICA – not Democrats, not liberals, not global-warming advocates – I mean a majority of Americans, to have an honest and transparent conversation about this problem with an eventual honest and transparent plan for overcoming this problem, then we’ll find America can cost-effectively – even profitably – achieve this goal.

Thus, is President Obama just another partisan political leader, or a revolutionary that is motivated to lead THE people, regardless of politics, personal success or any kind of power?

According to most, the President hasn’t been a very good leader in managing the BP debacle to this point, but all that could change. On Tuesday, will we hear the typical blame and excuses akin to most political leaders, or will America wake up to a new world – one with real hope and change – on Wednesday?