Securing our Energy Future
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As a new presidential term and a new Congress begin, the Center for American Progress has launched the Progressive Priorities Project to provide policymakers and the public with a positive vision for progressive policymaking supported by a series of new and bold policy ideas in priority areas identified by American Progress. Securing Our Energy Future is the third of approximately a dozen papers in the series that American Progress will issue over the course of the next two months. In addition to providing broad policy recommendations, each of the papers in the series proposes specific steps that policymakers can take to achieve the broader policy goals. All of the papers in the series will be compiled and published as a book in early 2005.
Securing our Energy Future
Executive Summary
The Center for American Progress proposes a national energy agenda that sets the nation on a new energy path that will provide our economy and our people with the energy we need while protecting our national security, strengthening our economy, and preserving the health of the world and its people for generations to come. The technologies necessary to dramatically transform our energy future are well within our reach. Yet for too long the will to implement the keys to our independence, security, and wellbeing has been lacking.
In this chapter of the Progressive Priorities Series, we urge the president, the new secretary of energy, and the Congress to adopt a national energy plan that secures a sound and sustainable energy future. This chapter provides recommendations for achieving this goal in four key areas: (1) transitioning away from oil dependence; (2) enhancing domestic energy supply; (3) prioritizing energy efficiency to enhance supply and improve reliability; and (4) tackling global warming.