Today National Public Radio weighed in with a story on how Obama can fulfill his promises to address energy issues. Obama continually emphasized throughout his campaign how the US can work together to increase its energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions. We can, he argues, use “energy” as a tool to remake our economy – get US car companies develop more fuel efficient vehicles, build green jobs by investing in renewable energy technologies, reduce our carbon emissions through cap and trade policies, etc.
NPR is just one of plethora of recent articles (we wrote one too) on how President-Elect Obama can make good on his energy and environment promises. The NPR piece focuses on alternatives like wind power and on ways to better use coal. It does a good job of highlighting the challenges the new administration will face.
The story ends upbeat: one thing may distinguish Obama from all the other presidents who have promised, then faltered, in addressing alternative energy issues before him. Unlike presidents of past, the head of Obama’s transition team, John Podesta, has studied energy and technology policies for a long time. This year he published his treatise, The Power of Progress, a book that argues for a progressive framework to tackle “our economy, our climate, our country.” That certainly will be a change from the Bush years where Dick Cheney’s reputation as a big oil proponent shaped much of the Administration’s tone toward US energy policy.