Sunday, February 19, 2012

Support for Renewable Energy vs. Rising Gas Price

Energy is predicted to be vital in this election by Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, as the gas price reached new high and caused concerns recently. Under President Obama, gas price rose by 91 percent, and as a result, his clean energy plans are criticized. Presidential candidates Santorum and Gingrich attacked the president’s energy policy and argued that energy should be affordable. In this article, it shows how the U.S. internal economy and gas price are dependent on international affairs, as the U.S. was negatively influenced by the European debt crisis and is now having rising gas price because of Iran’s claim to disrupt global oil trade. The rising gas price strengthened Republicans’ rationale to approve the Keystone pipeline (New York Times).

President Obama has been dedicated projects that may benefit the public in the long run, such as the heath care reform and his support for renewable energy, but I think he should pay more attention to variables in these projects, because, as we saw, the health care reform did not turn out to be effective because of the Act’s language and how it will be implemented. The president is not the person implementing the terms in the health care reform, so he should have made sure that other people working on the project are able to comprehend the Act effectively. Likewise, for the renewable energy, I think it might be better if the president pay more attention to details to make sure that support for renewable energy will be effective in a projected time. We are not yet clear whether clean energy resources are really “clean”. Scholars have expressed concerns about renewable energy resources’ environmental impact. The concept of clean energy is still vague while people are seeing rising gas price. I think it is important to answer questions about clean energy support with scientific finding and a time frame, otherwise, its effectiveness is doubted.

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