December 11, 2008
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The Crenshaw Energy Plan: Step 4

Encourage Energy Conservation and Efficiency


July 1, 2008


The energy solutions that America must embrace are not only found in the increase of exploration and production supply of American made fuel and energy, but also in the effort to encourage a new wave of conservation and efficiency.

Tax incentives have proven effective in motivating individuals to participate in programs such as energy efficient auto purchases or home upgrades, and we should continue this practice.  By offering tax incentives to Americans who make their homes, cars, and businesses more energy efficient, we can begin to stem energy demands and lower costs.  

Conservation has to play a pivotal role in any comprehensive national energy strategy because America is, by far, the largest energy consumer on the planet.

In 2005, the United States consumed more energy that all of Europe combined.  In that same year, the U.S. used more than both China and Russia combined.  

One of the biggest single reasons for that fact is found in America’s consumption of auto fuel.  

China has only 3.3 vehicles per 100 residents, to the U.S.’s 77 vehicles per 100 residents, and while the U.S. produces 10% of the world’s oil, it consumes 24% of it.  That’s almost 25% of the world’s oil demand by only 4% of the world population.  

At current prices, the United States will spend over $600 billion on imported oil in 2008, which amounts to more than our entire defense budget.  

Looking at our own state, which plays a large role in the national fuel demand, Florida now ranks third nationally in gasoline consumption.  The state depends almost exclusively on other states and countries for its oil and gasoline supplies.

It is for these reasons that the U.S. must encourage more fuel efficient vehicles through funding research and development of new technologies and encouraging the purchase of such technologies through tax incentives and other programs.

Conservation must become more than just a political catch phrase that is thrown around loosely, but never enacted specifically.  Now is the time to embrace this philosophy and enact it in our nation and its consumption behaviors and investments in new technologies.  
 
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July 2008 Press Releases



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