I spoke with Matthew Johnson, a Policy Associate in the Energy and Climate Program at the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, based in Washington, D.C. The EESI is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting policy solutions for a cleaner, more sustainable Earth.
Mr. Johnson spoke about the facets of the energy industry that he feels will receive the most attention throughout the next fiscal year. These areas are: the energy used within buildings and industries, vehicular energy, and solar energy. This is in large part do to Presidents Obama’s requested budget for the Department of Energy. Within the department, Obama has proposed an increase in funding for biomass, solar, geothermal, and wind energies. He has proposed a cut in water energy. The attention that will be paid solar energy is especially important because experts say solar energy prices can be drastically reduced. If the United States does not succeed in doing so first, another country will.
Vehicular energy is also very significant. The Department of Energy is dedicated to putting one million electric cars on the road by 2015. With this goal in motion, and President Obama’s budget allocations, the automotive industry will be a major focus of the energy industry in the coming years.
Mr. Johnson also explained how individual states are implementing non-profit programs created to save money by finding innovative ways to save energy. One such program is LoanSTAR in Texas. The efforts made by LoanSTAR and similar programs are helping to rebuild the national economy. They are also creating jobs for Americans by working with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Given Mr. Johnson's information, I think we should begin to focus more heavily on the automotive industry, as well as companies who work largely with biomass, solar, geothermal, and wind energies.
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