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Pass the Word: The 1970s Are Over

August 7, 2007

Someone should pass a note to a few offices on Capitol Hill that the 1970s are over. No one wears leisure suits anymore, the Pet Rock was a dumb fad, and we have found other ways to produce energy besides burning something.

The House passed an energy bill last weekend that includes efficiency provisions and sets a standard for utilities to obtain 15 percent of their energy from renewable resources by 2020.

But some members of Congress are still navigating public policy through a rear-view mirror. They argue that the bill doesn’t do enough to encourage domestic energy production. By that, they mean oil, gas, and coal. As if those were the only energy resources available.

After all the energy efficiency progress the U.S. has made since the 1970s, the critics still don’t grasp that efficiency is a cheap, clean, and reliable form of energy production. A kilowatt-hour saved is a kilowatt-hour earned.

In fact, efficiency is the largest domestic energy resource in use today. Efficiency improvements adopted since 1970 yielded 75 quadrillion Btus, or “quads,” of savings in 2005--equivalent to 75 percent of total U.S. energy consumption that year. Without those efficiency savings, America would have spent an additional $700 billion on wasted energy.

Conservatives in Congress ought to applaud that achievement and demand more. Instead of chasing the chimera of energy independence through oil drilling, they ought to tell the House Democrats to stop playing political games and raise motor vehicle fuel economy standards.

Making cars more fuel-efficient is the single most important step that can be taken now to achieve lasting energy security. A bill sponsored by Congressman Todd Platts, R-PA, who also sponsored the 15 percent renewable energy standard, would save up to 4.3 million barrels of oil per day by 2030, about 20 percent of current domestic production. And unlike domestic oil wells, efficiency savings persist year after year.

Likewise, renewable energy will be available as long as the wind blows and it will be free from the crooks, crazies, and autocrats who manipulate the world oil market as long as the sun shines. Diversifying our energy portfolio is the prudent thing to do.

Going retro on energy policy is not a bad thing per se. But don’t settle for the 1970s. Go back further in time, to the days of Edmund Burke, and rediscover the traditional conservative virtues of prudence, frugality, and stewardship. An energy policy founded on those timeless verities will deliver value long into the future.