There are many renewable, clean-burning alternative fuels such as ethanol, kerosene, and hydrogen, to mention only a few, but one that I feel is particularly interesting in an immediate sense is biodiesel. Biodiesel is a domestically produced, clean-burning, renewable, biodegradable fuel that can run in any diesel engine with no modifications to the engine required. It is supplied either in its pure form, B100, or mixed with petrodiesel, B20. It is currently in use in many areas of the country, for example in agricultural areas where farmers are being taught to produce fuel for their tractors from their own grain crops, or in Colorado where it is available at the pump for diesel automobiles. Biodiesel can be made from new or used vegetable oil or even animal fats through a fairly simple process called “etherification”, and produces as a byproduct glycerin, which can be used to make soap and other biodegradable products. It is in limited production today, but production can be increased by growing seed grain such as canola in quantity. Most importantly, it is today’s technology. In short, there is no significant reason why our nation should not place a priority on developing biodiesel as a resource to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, with the goal of eliminating that dependence entirely.

There are technological advances that we can make to improve the efficiency of vehicles using biodiesel, and these should be encouraged by government through the use of subsidies and directed tax incentives. For example, the production of a diesel analog to the currently popular gasoline hybrid engine should be developed for private vehicular use. It is projected that a diesel/electric hybrid car could get 100 miles to the gallon or more. Again, this is not new technology. Hybrid technology in automobiles, such as the popular Toyota Prius, is available today and has made significant market penetration. The Washington State Ferry System uses diesel/electric technology in its boats, running diesel turbines to produce all the electrical power needs of the boats, including the power needed to turn the propellers. Diesel/electric hybrid technology is the next logical step in improving the fuel efficiency of our vehicles and an important step towards the use of renewable fuels. It does not require that we give up our private vehicles, only that we make them more efficient. All that is needed is the political will to drive the economic incentive.

Unfortunately, there are relatively few automobiles in the US with diesel engines. In Europe, 40% of the private passenger automobiles (PPAs) sold are diesel, whereas only one half of one percent of PPAs in the US are diesel. However, that still leaves a large number of trucks, buses, school buses, marine vehicles, and farm vehicles that could be using biodiesel today, although we should still be encouraging a dramatic increase in the number of diesel PPAs in the US through economic incentives driven by government policy. The goal of this initiative would be to increase the fuel efficiency of our private vehicles and to use existing technology to provide a path to a renewable, domestically produced fuel source. This should be part of an overall federal energy policy which weans the country away from fossil-based fuels and towards the use of alternate fuels such as biodiesel.

President Bush has made the statement that it's "obvious" that we need more oil refineries. This is not obvious to me at all. What is obvious is that no matter how much oil we pump out of the ground, or how many wilderness areas we pollute and destroy to find more oil, or how much we increase our capacity to refine, store and transport it, eventually there will be no more oil. What is obvious is that our continued reliance on petroleum-based products is at best a dead end and at worst a recipe for economic disaster. What is obvious to me is that eventually we will have to confront this problem. Rather than wait for the eventual crisis, I am proposing that we have the vision to accept this reality and the will to do something about it.

Our country’s leadership can leave a lasting and positive legacy to future generations by making energy independence an important part of its agenda and challenging the country to achieve this goal in a specific time frame; just the way President Kennedy challenged us to do what was necessary to put a person on the moon by the end of the sixties. Although we may debate the value of that enterprise, it was an inspiring challenge, and the country rose to it and achieved a worthwhile goal, a goal that would provide great benefits for the future. If I were president today, I would place a similar challenge before the American public: to reach energy independence in ten years.

The benefits of achieving this goal are indisputable:

The costs would initially be high, but no higher than the costs of war, pollution, and economic dependence on foreign governments. It should be clear that eventually, this effort would pay great dividends.

There are many obstacles to overcome, particularly from moneyed interests. However, the rewards are huge, and include the restoration of our economic independence and the return of our belief in ourselves, our industry, our technology, and our creativity as a society. Kennedy showed us that if we dedicate ourselves to those values, that we can achieve difficult, highly worthwhile goals.

October, 2005

"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."

       - John Kennedy, September 12, 1962