Apartment American Future

Protecting the environment should be a priority within the NESS and is indissoluble from the other critical elements of the energy strategy. Greenhouse gases are causing climate change at unprecedented levels and have been steadily increasing due to human activities, mainly from burning fossil fuels. Emissions of various types have caused global warming trends, with the last seven of eight years registering as the warmest recorded years over the last century. Similarly, the rate of warming in the last thirty years has been three times greater than all of the previous 100 years.

CO2 emissions are the most prominent contributors to these undesirable trends and are directly linked to the use of fossil fuels, mainly coal and oil. The United States and China, by far, lead the world in CO2 emissions, delivering 20% each of the earth's total output. The United States alone has failed to lead, given that it is the top emitter of CO2 (tied with China) and has the lowest fraction of the world's population of the top five countries (5% compared to China's 20%).

In order to protect the environment and prevent unnecessary acceleration of climate change, the United States must progressively mitigate emissions and further lead by example for other countries. This should be accomplished, however, in a coordinated manner that does not discount the current need to use oil and coal for economic recovery and sustaining world influence. This means that the establishment of emissions controls and other environmental safeguards must be synchronized with the employment of sound alternative fuels, the advancement of new technologies, the gradual retraction from imported oil, and the growth of our economy.

There are several examples of how well-intended emissions controls can lead to unexpected outcomes. Economically, for example, the airline industry could take the hardest hit from carbon taxes because of the CO2 levels that are emitted from jets. This means that either the airlines will be forced to make further cuts that will result in less business, commerce, and trade, or that the costs will be passed to customers.

Environmentally, a recent study of Colorado's wind energy program concluded that wind power paradoxically causes more emissions because of the intermittent "cycling" of coal plants that is needed to rebalance total energy in the grid. Still another illustration is where studies reveal potential increases in carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions related to the massive shift of the agriculture sector to growing bio-fuel crops. The point here is that without a strategic understanding of how protecting the environment is interrelated and, hence, balanced with the conservation, adaptation, and evolution of the U.S. energy sector, the more unintended consequences could result with independent, blanket environmental mandates.