As we spend time this Earth Day considering the state of our environment, we must recognize that is impossible to do so without taking into account the direct relationship with our energy security. Producing, delivering, and using the energy that powers our lives – and our economy – also alters our shared environment. To meet increasing U.S. energy demand, we must continue to advance energy solutions that will not only improve our energy security, but also reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other forms of environmental degradation.

Our collective success in this effort depends on the aggressive pursuit of a suite of policy options and technology investments to break our dependence on fossil fuels increase our energy efficiency, and harness the tremendous power of alternative sources of energy. Our national strategy can be summarized this way: to diversify our energy sources, our energy suppliers, and our energy supply routes. And do it all in ways that are more efficient, cleaner, sustainable, and secure. Under President Bush’s leadership, we have put in place a series of federal policies to do just that. Through the Advanced Energy Initiative, we’ve identified the technologies that are likely to have the greatest impact over the course of the next decade, and we’re going after them with increased resources and accelerated timelines. By way of just one example, since the start of 2007, the Energy Department has announced over $1 billion of investments to spur the growth of a sustainable biofuels industry, with a particular focus on cellulosic biofuels derived from waste streams rather than edible fuel sources. Other areas of emphasis include solar and wind power, geothermal energy, hydrogen fuel cells, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

We are working to ensure that these “alternative” technologies become cost competitive, mainstream energy options by funding innovative R&D programs at our National Laboratories and by partnering with industry and universities. At the same time, we’re collaborating with cities, states, and utilities to integrate new technologies into the marketplace – and into the grid – quickly and efficiently.

Any comprehensive strategy must recognize that our energy challenges have been decades in the making and certainly won’t be resolved overnight. So even as we rightly place a great deal of emphasis on renewable energy and alternative fuels, it is clear that our economy is – and will remain for some time – dependent on fossil energy. We must diversify the available supply of conventional fuels and expand production around the world and here at home– including within a small area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and portions of America’s Outer Continental Shelf – in an environmentally sensitive and efficient manner. Also, we must maintain an adequate liquefied natural gas infrastructure and promote the development of nontraditional fossil fuels like oil shale and oil sands.

Additionally, we must improve and expand the availability of clean-coal technologies. After all, this nation is blessed with an abundant coal supply. Our challenge is to reduce – or perhaps eliminate – its environmental impacts. To that end, the Energy Department is advancing technologies to make carbon capture and storage commercially viable for coal-fired plants. A fundamental factor in the clean energy equation is the need for increased commercial nuclear power. Nuclear energy is the Nation’s largest provider of clean, carbon-free electricity, absent of greenhouse gas emissions or air pollutants. It is the only mature technology readily available to help us meet the extraordinary base load requirements for our Nation’s projected increased electricity demand, and it is a primary component of our clean energy approach. Successful and safe expansion of commercial nuclear power is a priority both at home and abroad.

And finally, there is this: the largest source of immediately- available “new” energy is the energy we waste everyday. There are simple actions everyone can take to use energy more wisely, whether at home, in our vehicles or at work. Some examples include: turning off computers and other electronic devices when they’re not in use; switching to energy-saving compact fluorescent light bulbs; keeping current with car maintenance and keeping tires properly inflated; carpooling or utilizing public transportation; asking your local electric utility about the availability of smart meters, which enable you to shift some of your energy usage to off-peak periods; and, if you own a business, participating in an energy assessment program – or encouraging your employer to do so.

This whole set of actions – from increasing our diversity of supply, to producing more clean energy, to saving energy – will help us meet the important goal President Bush set last week: to stop the growth of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. And though the challenges we face are great, so too are the opportunities for this nation. To seize them, we will continue to do what America has always done in the face of formidable challenges - we will work together, we will innovate, and we will lead the world to a cleaner, more sustainable and more secure energy future.

By Samuel W. Bodman
The Secretary of Energy

Last Reviewed: 7/28/2008