Now Is The Time For An Energy Shift

Tonight, the Republicans will debate in Florida. It will be brought to you by the coal industry. The last CNN debate on the Democratic side was also sponsored by the coal industry. Needless to say, questions about climate change and energy didn't come up then, and don't expect them tonight, either.

And yet, with $100 a barrel oil prices starting to make a real dent into American economic security, candidates are being pressed on energy issues, at least out on the campaign trail.

For Democrats, the goal of energy policy is largely about reducing oil consumption and has become inseparable from the goal of reducing the risk of climate change.

For the Republican candidates, energy policy is primarily about producing more energy at home — more oil and gas drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; more use of American coal to produce liquid fuel; and, as with Democrats, more renewable fuels like ethanol.

By contrast, all of the Democratic candidates would repeal billions of dollars in tax breaks for oil companies, spend billions more each year to develop alternative fuels, and require cars and trucks to be far more fuel-efficient.

While rhetorically, all candidates are forced into acknowledging the man-made element to climate change and the need for solutions, on an economic and national security level if not on an environmental one, the Republicans are really concerned with opening up new revenue sources for their traditional oil, coal and mining industry allies and pushing the costs onto the backs of consumers. Not only is this shortsighted, it misses the most fundamental entrepreneurial opportunity since the Internet boom. A progressive growth strategy focusing on innovation and reducing carbon output is one of the only areas in which American ingenuity can outflank the world and reap the benefits. It would both save consumers money and create millions of new jobs. Google is already jumping aboard by making a strong commitment to renewable energy.

The company, based in Mountain View, Calif., announced Tuesday that it intended to develop and help stimulate the creation of renewable energy technologies that are cheaper than coal-generated power.

Google said it would spend hundreds of millions of dollars, part of that to hire engineers and energy experts to investigate alternative energies like solar, geothermal and wind power. The effort is aimed at reducing Google’s own mounting energy costs to run its vast data centers, while also fighting climate change and helping to reduce the world’s dependence on fossil fuels.

“We see technologies we think can mature into very capable industries that can generate electricity cheaper than coal,” said Larry Page, a Google founder and president of products, “and we don’t see people talking about that as much as we would like.”

The initiative, which Google is calling RE < C, using mathematical symbols to denote “renewable energy cheaper than coal,” will be based in Google’s research and development group.

We know that the catastrophic effects of climate change that can't be mitigated by immediate action are going to cost hundreds of billions of dollars in the near future, and rich nations will have to either bear the burden or facilitate mass carnage. The only way to stabilize the environment, lower that burden, and thrive in a post-carbon economy is by starting right now, overcoming the trenchant nature of special interest politics, and undertake the steps to move the country off of oil and onto something that can power the next generation. This election is an opportunity that's in danger of being squashed.