Affordable Energy Fuels Our Economy

Statement

Think of your typical day. An alarm clock wakes you up, you take a hot shower, afterwards you might pore yourself a cool glass of orange juice and a warm cup of coffee. Unless you have a mechanical alarm clock, a hot spring, an old-fashioned ice box, and an open fire, you used electricity or gas to make all of these things happen.

Our modern lives completely revolve around the availability of inexpensive electricity and fuel. Americans rich and poor have access to the same electric grid, the same gas lines, and plentiful gas stations. The availability of energy resources is something we all take for granted.

The U.S. led the world in developing energy infrastructure. That, in turn, meant that we also led the world in manufacturing. This created jobs for tens of millions of Americans and brought many into the middle class for the first time.

The first oil well in the world was drilled in Western Pennsylvania and the expansion of gasoline infrastructure and automobiles tied together our vast country and allowed everyday Americans to be mobile.

For decades, scientists and economists speculated that the oil and natural gas would simply run out, with the energy economy sputtering to a halt. But Americans didn't stop innovating. Even a few years ago, it looked like we would keep growing more and more dependent on foreign fossil fuels. Energy analysts urged the creation of liquefied natural gas terminals to allow new imports. Instead, we are now building terminals to do the opposite: export American natural gas to markets currently reliant on Vladimir Putin's autocratic Russia.

American oil production is expected to once again be the highest in the world, even topping Saudi Arabia. In the last year, oil dropped from $112 a barrel to $80 a barrel. At that rate, Americans would save $160 billion a year filling up their cars and buying other products made from oil. That is money in the pocket of every American and could be a huge boon to our economy.

The expansion of natural gas is already paying off in cleaner air. Carbon dioxide emissions are down since reaching a high in 2007. Natural gas expansion wasn't the only reason, there was also a great deal of increased efficiency, but it probably played the biggest role.

Americans keep innovating to unlock new resources and reduce the price of exploration. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, physicist Mark Mills listed some of the technologies that are just now starting to be deployed. They include automated drilling, micro drilling that reduces the size and impact of rigs and new data analysis to get the most out of every site. Importantly, some new innovations are making drilling cleaner including nanotechnology, on-site water recycling and even new fracturing techniques that don't use water.

According to Mills, many of these innovations are the result of intense competition among a number of companies. Unlike the U.S., much oil exploration in foreign companies is done by monopolies or state-controlled firms. Competition works, it's making energy less expensive and cleaner.

We need healthy competition among energy sources. We should have an all-of-the-above energy strategy that promotes traditional and renewable sources. After decades of development and improvement to batteries, electrical cars are finally becoming a viable alternative. In fact, Tesla may soon have a network of fast charge stations that allows drivers to go from one side of the country to the other without having to spend the night every time the car needs juice.

Solar and wind should be a part of our energy portfolio, but we still need stable, reliable sources to keep the lights on and keep factories humming. We need to upgrade our hydroelectric facilities to get the most out of our rivers and dams.

Recently, some manufacturers have moved operations back from overseas or are locating new facilities here rather than China. Armstrong chose Lancaster for a new luxury vinyl tile line. Others will come if they know that their energy bills will be low and stable.

Right now, the most important things for our economy are more jobs and more money in consumers' wallets. Affordable energy helps on both fronts.

Source