- CAFE standards - The Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards measure the miles per gallon your car can travel. The less gasoline you burn, the better. For more details on CAFE standards, go here.
Biden: Wants to "set fuel economy standards based on vehicle elements such as size and weight" and achieve a 40 mpg average for vehicles by 2017.
Clinton: There is no mention of CAFE standards on her web page. The only record I could find from her Senate work concerning CAFE standards was from 2002 when she voted to keep a provision to raise CAFE standards in a bill (source).
Dodd: 50 MPG by the year 2017.
Edwards: 40 MPG by the year 2016. Additionally, would invest $1 billion a year to "help U.S. automakers advance and apply the latest technology, including biofuels, hybrid and electric cars, hydrogen fuel cells, ultra-light materials, and drive train improvements."
Gravel: N/a
Kucinich: N/a
Obama: 40 MPG by the year 2020 (four percent annual increase in CAFE standards), with different standards for different types of cars. He also has a new idea: "Health Care for Hybrids." The plan calls for the government to pay for 10% of the cost of health care for retired autoworkers, and in exchange, car manufacturers would invest 50% of their savings into producing fuel-efficient vehicles (read more here).
Richardson: 35 MPG by 2016, 50 MPG by 2020 (the boldest proposal of any candidate).
- Greenhouse gas reduction/CO2 reduction - A leading cause of global warming is the amount of greenhouse gases we release into the air, therefore trapping heat within our atmosphere and causing the earth's temperature to rise. Known more commonly as your "carbon footprint." Read more here.
Biden: Supports the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act (Sen. Boxer's bill), but according to Grist he signed on "when it became the safe thing to do" (joining Clinton and Obama as late-comers to the legislation). His website goes into no more details about any plans.
Clinton: Calls for an 80% reduction of "pollution" by 2050. Also supports a "market-based" cap and trade approach, where the amount of emissions are capped but companies can buy and sell, in essence, their "right to pollute" to other companies.
Dodd: Reduce greenhouse gases by 15% by 2020, and 80% by 2050. Also advocates the "cap and trade" policies, and would use a portion of those funds to be dedicated to the Corporate Carbon Tax Trust Fund.
Edwards: Reduce greenhouse gases by 20% by 2020, and 80% by 2050. Supports cap and trade system, and will auction off $10 billion in permits -- the proceeds of which will go to his "New Energy Economy Fund" that would provide $13 billion annually towards investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and would create 1 million "green-collar" jobs.
Gravel: N/a
Kucinich: Congressman Dennis Kucinich is to national politics what Representative Lon Burnam is to Texas politics: a true blue Democrat. Though I couldn't find specific goals, his long voting history speaks for itself.
Obama: Like Clinton, will use a market-based cap-and-trade system to reduce emissions by 80% by 2050. His website notes that his "cap-and-trade system will include an initial partial auction of pollution credits to raise money to upgrade our energy infrastructure" with the funds to go towards energy efficiency and other clean energy technology.
Richardson: Reduce emissions by 80% by 2040 (ten years earlier than any other candidate), and by 90% by 2050. Richardson also favors the cap-and-trade system.
- Renewable energy - The use of wind and solar energy to generate electricity. Here in Texas, my former boss Rep. Garnet Coleman drafted a major solar energy bill to try and put Texas at the forefront of the country's solar energy industry (read more here). Demonstration projects using the ideas of the bill will be carried out over the coming years.
Biden: Calls for 20% of our electricity should be from renewable resources.
Clinton: Would require power companies to obtain 20% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Additionally, she wants to create a "Strategic Energy Fund" -- which is the cornerstone of her energy/environment platform -- which consists of, according to Grist:
a temporary two-year fee on major oil-company profits, elimination of some oil tax breaks, and closure of a loophole that allows oil companies to avoid royalty payments. The accrued $50 billion would go toward tax credits for energy-efficient vehicles and renewable energy...
Dodd: Aims for 20% of our energy to come from renewable sources, and is a strong advocate for the use of renewable fuels. Also wants to export safe renewable technologies to our allies, so more countries can reduce their dependence on oil. Will use funds generated from the Corporate Carbon Tax Trust Fund to invest in renewable energy, and wants to make permanent the Production Tax Credit for companies that produce renewable energy.
Edwards: Wants to make 25% of our energy renewable, and cites Texas' success with wind energy as a model for the country. Also wants to double the Department of Energy's budget for research of renewable energy and would create permanent tax credits for private businesses that use renewable energy. And finally, Edwards is also the only candidate talking about distributed generation ideas:
...a $5,000 tax credit for homes and small businesses that invest in onsite generation of renewable energy like solar, wind, and geothermal power. He will also encourage local generation of renewable energy through "net metering," which allows families to sell extra power back to utilities for credits against their electricity bills.
Gravel: N/a
Kucinich: Believes we should double our use of renewable energies, and advocates a "Global Green Deal" which would share renewable technologies with other countries and drastically reduce our dependence on traditional uses of electricity. The Global Green Deal would bring in $50 billion in investments for solar projects worldwide.
Obama: 20% of our power would come from renewable resources by 2020, and Obama also places a strong emphasis on the increased use of renewable fuels.
Richardson: Again, Richardson's plan goes above and beyond that of any other candidate: of all the electricity produced, his goal is to have 30% be from renewable energy by 2020 and 50% by 2040 (50%!).
- Energy efficiency - What policies do the candidates advocate to conserve the energy being produced? This ranges from using better kind of light bulbs to building more efficient buildings, like the new dorm at Rice University.
Biden: Wants to provide $50 million to states to encourage Americans to use energy efficient technology. Would require a 30% reduction of electricity use in federal buildings over the next ten years. Again, as with renewable energies, has general principles/ideas but no concrete details.
Clinton: In addition to the Strategic Energy Fund (mentioned above), Clinton wants to make all federal buildings energy efficient and carbon-neutral by 2030. Furthermore, she has plans to create a "Green Building Fund" that would annually allocate $1 billion to states to help make local buildings energy efficient.
Dodd: Wants to make hybrids affordable to all American families and require all government vehicles to be hybrids. Wants the government to play a larger role in promoting efficient light bulbs, appliances, etc. to decrease our energy demand.
Edwards: Wants to make the White House carbon-neutral, and aims to reduce energy use in federal buildings by 20%. His six-point plan outlined for energy efficiency on his website includes plans to modernize utility companies metering practices, insulating homes against weather to increase efficiency, and much more.
Gravel: N/a
Kucinich: Coupled with the efforts for renewable energy, the Global Green Deal would help invest in energy efficient technology. He also wants to utilize NASA and send them on a "mission to planet Earth" to help us make better use of our current technologies.
Obama: Nothing specific on his website -- just that he will continue to invest in energy efficient technology.
Richardson: Richardson wants to create a program to "enable electric and natural gas utilities to incentivize efficiency in rate structures" in order to reduce energy costs. Furthermore, he would provide tax credits to those companies that could store their wind/solar energy. He is a strong advocate of every kind of building and consumer energy efficiency technology, and lists dozens of simple changes that can be made to save electricity.
- Oil subsidies - Rather self-explanatory: how would a Democratic president stand against the oil companies that have profited from President Bush and his administration?
Biden: No discussion of oil subsidies, but is largely advocating the use of renewable fuels and for all gas stations to be required to offer more ethanol-type renewable fuels in the future.
Clinton: Oil companies either invest in renewable energies or pay into her "Strategic Energy Fund" (see discussion above).
Dodd: Nothing directly mentioned about oil subsidies, though his Corporate Carbon Tax is one-of-a-kind, going after American polluters more than any other candidate.
Edwards: Wants to repeal all oil subsidies.
Gravel: N/a
Kucinich: End all oil subsidies.
Obama: Again, nothing specific -- though the Alternative Energy Action Network noted that Obama supports "no subsidies that increase global warming."
Richardson: Richardson plans to cut oil demand by 50% by 2020 -- something that would be unrealistic if it weren't for his 7,700 word energy plan detailed on his website.
- Coal - What kind of -- if any -- coal plants should be built across the nation (yet another issue being played out here in Texas).
Biden: N/a
Clinton: Wants to invest in research and development of "clean coal" technologies.
Dodd: Shares Edwards' plan to freeze all construction of new coal plants unless they include carbon sequestration technology.
Edwards: Though Edwards -- like the other candidates -- wants to increase research funds for "clean coal" technology, he and Dodd are the only candidates to call for a complete halt to the construction of any coal plants until each plant can be outfitted with carbon sequestration technology. Carbon sequestration is when the carbon released by plants is captured and injected back into the ground.
Gravel: N/a
Kucinich: N/a
Obama: Obama's big energy policy "gaffe" was his early introduction of the "Coal-to-Liquid Fuel Promotion Act of 2007." What does coal-to-liquid do? I'll let Grist explain:
Coal-to-liquid (CTL) technology uses a highly energy-intensive process to convert coal into diesel fuel for cars or jet fuel for airplanes -- an appealing prospect to the coal industry in Obama's home state of Illinois, but not to enviros and others concerned about global warming.
Since announcing the legislation, Obama has since backed off, qualifying his remarks to say that he would not support the technology for the plants "unless they emit at least 20 percent less life-cycle carbon than conventional fuels."
Richardson: By the year 2020, any and all new coal plants would have to emit 20% less pollution than today's plants do. Richardson also supports a 30% carbon reduction for all liquid fuels by the year 2020.
- Other - Any other major policy ideas the candidates have put forward, along with what some others are saying about the candidates platform.
Biden: To be honest, Biden's energy and environmental policies largely consist of the highlights of other candidates' plans.
Clinton: Though her policies are adequate, she is not considered a leader on many of the energy and environmental issues. Grist describes her as the candidate that, "dutifully toes the Democratic line on climate change and energy independence...On these issues, Clinton is studious and solid, but not out front."
Dodd: Dodd's energy platform is not as detailed as others, but includes two planks unique to his campaign: the corporate carbon tax (discussed above), and a technical education curriculum for a new generation of American workers. The curriculum would teach new employees how to build more efficient light bulbs, lamps, vehicles, buildings -- you name it.
Edwards: Edwards' has plans to create a "Green Corps" as an offshoot of Americorps, to give young adults the opportunity to volunteer to improve their environment. Overall, Grist calls his energy plan, "the most comprehensive" plan of any front-running Democrat. As an interesting side-note, the green tail that follows the blue star in his logo is there as a symbol of his commitment to his energy goals -- a symbol backed up by the fact that his entire campaign is carbon neutral.
Gravel: Though it does not discuss his belief that we need to return rocks to their rightful home in the water, Gravel's entire energy platform reads as follows:
Senator Gravel believes that global climate change is a matter of national security. As President, he will act swiftly to reduce America's carbon footprint in the world by passing legislation that caps emissions, and lead the fight against global deforestation, which today is second only to the energy sector as a source of greenhouses gases.
However, any legislation will have little impact on the global environment if we do not work together with other global polluters. Today, China and India are surpassing the U.S. in carbon emissions. Fighting global warming can only be effective if it is a collective global effort. As President, Senator Gravel will see that the U.S. launches and leads a massive global scientific effort to end energy dependence on oil and integrate the world's scientific community in this task.
Kucinich: It's Dennis Kucinich! If we could achieve even half of what he advocated for, our country would be immeasurably better off.
Obama: The bulk of Obama's energy plan centers around his "Health Care for Hybrid" plan and working on improving the conditions for autoworkers. Obama has also borrowed from Edwards' "Green Corps" idea of getting younger people involved with environmental jobs: Obama calls for the "5-E (Energy Efficiency, Environmental Education and Employment) Disconnected Youth Service Corps."
Richardson: I read through almost all of Richardson's 7,700 word energy and environmental plan. It's quite incredible -- at every step, he outlines the goal, his strategy, and then a series of policies to make the strategy successful and reach his goal. Richardson, followed closely by Edwards, has the most detailed energy policy of any candidate.
