Six Debate Questions for The Candidates

Please Debate- As John McCain and Barack Obama each prepare for tonight’s town hall style debate format, one can only hope that some of the 100 undecided voters in the room ask questions about energy policy, clean technology and conservation. Let us hope that the discussion is actually substantive and not all sideshow politics. Below are some questions I would like to see put forth to both candidates:

1) Energy efficiency seems to receive very little attention in this race. What policies would your administrations put forth to exploit this nation’s energy-efficiency reserves and create jobs in the expanding green economy?

2) If you are so serious that nuclear energy is the way forward, could you explain both how you will finance such expensive plants and additionally how you would dispose of the corresponding waste?

3) The U.S. produces a quarter of all our pollution from automobiles and trucks. What measures would your administration take to reduce this global-warming pollution beyond current levels?

4) Where do each of you stand on reducing CO2 emissions by 20% in 2020 and 50% by 2050? How do your policies get us there or better?

5) How do each of you respond to the fact that the U.S. automobile industry was just allowed $25 billion in U.S. taxpayer subsidies, when a company like Ford already has the ability to produce a automobile that gets 65 mpg?

6) As a voter I am confused. How can you both claim to support alternative energy, but the Obama campaign claims Senator McCain, you have voted against renewable energy 23 times in your Senate career. Please correct this fact if it is indeed false.

Soprano Sings In New Jersey

Jersey Clean- New Jersey regulators awarded the rights yesterday for Garden State Offshore Energy to construct a $1 billion wind farm in the southern portion of the state. New Jersey now joins both Delaware and Rhode Island each having granted rights to construct wind farms. The New Jersey Energy Master Plan has goals of 20% of the state’s energy coming from renewable sources by 2020. The plan calls for 96 wind turbines to be placed 16-20 miles offshore. These turbines are expected to produce enough electricity to power tens of thousands of homes by 2013. Can New York be far behind in approving such a project?

Bailout- It turns out the $700 billion bailout…errrr, I mean rescue legislation indeed contained the extension of tax credits for renewable energy going forward 8 years. So I suppose this is good news, that under the most ridiculous of circumstances these credits were finally passed and extended. Now the real question becomes how many Goldman Sachs bankers will become intimately involved in the dispersion of this taxpayer (I mean China's) money.