Why Energy Reform Is Likely This Year, and Six Forms it Could Take

Cap and trade is only the setup mechanism in which those who believe in global warming song and dance can get a check from the producers thru the facade of carbon credits. Exactly does this do anything but heap on more weight of the shoulders of those who produce....If this is passed ...welcome to the new recession.

I saw the picture and thought this was going to be a story about Pink Floyd. Needless to say, I was disappointed.

Jill, you nailed it. You ARE Pollyanna.
The fact is that the billions we have spent on the "Energy Department" since Jimmy Carter pledged to free us from the evils of imported oil have not delivered reliable, affordable, clean alternatives capable of competing with hydrocarbons at today's costs of extraction. While we are all free to adopt off-the-grid solar and wind generation in this great country, the lack of takers suggests a few little disadvantages compared to the more popular utilities.
I worked for an entire career to make energy machines cleaner and more efficient. If a solar or wind solution is to happen, it cries for an efficient, affordable and safe storage/retrieval system to harvest excess energy when the wind blows/sun shines to be recovered when it is dark/calm.
We are not there. Cap and trade will only increase costs, stifle competitiveness, and kill jobs. I welcome constructive solutions. Imposing arbitrary taxes does not fit that class.

Cap and tax is simply a bad idea. How much 'government control' of our lives will we endure before there is a revolt?

I wonder if the people fleeing the Titanic asked " Do you think the life boats will be expensive?".

Everyone wants to kick the can down the road and let someone else do it. Buck up little cowboys time to put on your big girl panties and do something that might accidently benefit someone besides yourself.

Products made from oil: soft contact lenses, eyeglasses, heart valves, dentures, water pipes, bandages, synthetic rubber, CD's, DVD's...just to mention a few. Our dependence on oil is not just the gas/oil we use to run our cars, or heat our homes. Search oil products and you will discover just a small portion of products that we use in our daily lives (shampoo, toothpaste, detergent, etc.)

Energy Reform is indeed possible as long as those pushing it are able to keep the public in the dark as to how much it will cost and how many real jobs it will kill. There is no such thing as a Tax on a Company or Utility! You, as their customer, have to pay these Taxes as well as your own. Electricity will cost 5 to 7 times more than it does now. Gasoline, which will be declared as "Evil", will easily cost $6 or more per gallon. Meanwhile our Govenment has loaned $2 billion dollars to PetroBras for their dep water drilling program while trying to destroy ours! Why is that?

Taxes would go up as it costs more to produce alternative energy. We have wind power in our state, should a customer choose to support alternative energy on their electric bill, depending on the percentage he/she would choose, would increase the bill 10.00-20.00 dollars per month. This pertains to our electric bill at this time. The information was enclosed in our electric bill.
This is just one example.

How to reduce carbon emissions & reliance on foreign oil, etc.??
Simply start with the following:
1- cut production to 50% of current numbers of SUV's, mini-SUVs, pickup trucks, and vans that get less than 25 MPG CITY. AND EACH YEAR AFTER AN ADDITIONAL 10% CUT FROM THE PRIOR YEAR.
2- Slap a $5,000 fee on all sales of the above at the dealers, except for legitimate business use. (This gets rid of all the jackass drivers who feel like bigshots sitting in their pickup trucks while they spew out exhaust on the rest of us.
3- Another rebate program to trade in all vehicles that get less than 20 MPG City -BUT - They can only buy passenger cars that get at least 30 MPG CITY (NO SUV's, mini-SUVs, pickup trucks, and vans)
4- All new homes are to have SOLAR POWER AND GAS HEAT AS BACKUP. NO OIL EVER AGAIN.
5- INDUCEMENTS TO CONVERT ALL OIL HEATED HOMES TO GAS OR SOLAR.
6- Rebates of $5000 to all buyers of new cars (passenger only) that use either partially or completely or hybrid fuels (hybrid fuels must be substanially less expensive than a gallon of gasoline, ie no bio fuels that cost more to produce or have negative price effect on food, etc.)
THIS WILL REDUCE IMMEDIATELY OUR DEPENDENCE ON OIL AND PICK UP OUR ECONOMY BY HELPING ALL AUTO PRODUCERS, FARMERS, AND ALTERNATIVE ENERGY PRODUCERS.

Energy reform, possible but not at all probable. The Obama administration has entirely to many irons in the fire. The so called carbon credits where you buy credits so you can pollute is a joke, the cost of buying the credits will be placed on any and all customers increasing everyones costs for every day living costs. I do not know about you but I pay to much already, I work part time as a farm hand and do not have more money for higher utility costs.