The past eight presidents, including President Obama, have gone on national television and promised to move America to an energy secure future.  What’s different this time?  Hopefully, the dots are starting to connect.

The on-going BP Oil Spill tragedy has exposed the public to the tremendous risk our existing energy system poses to the waters, land, and air we depend on for our survival, well-being, and way of life.  The majority of voters now support legislation to limit greenhouse gas pollution, as well as policies to reduce oil consumption and greatly increase fuel economy standards.  Perhaps most importantly, we have technologies available to both decrease the consumption of oil and transition to clean energy.  We just need policies, investment, and consumer choice to drive the deployment of those technologies.

Let’s start with petroleum powered engines technology.  Interestingly, six of the top ten most fuel efficient vehicles produced since 1984 were in customers hands by the year 2000.  The 1986 Chevrolet Sprint ER got 48 miles per gallon (mpg), just under the 2010 Toyota Prius Hybrid, which gets 50 mpg.  Twenty four years later, the best we have offers a two mpg improvement.  Does this mean we haven’t made progress?  No.  It means we have not directed progress towards increasing the efficiency of the vehicles we depend on.  We have not had national policies in place to do so.

Significant gains can be made using existing technologies; automakers just need to be put up to the challenge.  This is why the May 19th, 2009 Rose Garden agreement announced by President Obama and the May 21st, 2010 presidential memorandumsigned by the President are so important. By 2016, light duty fuel economy standards will be raised to an industry average of 35.5 mpg, saving 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the life of vehicles sold in the next five years, while mid and heavy duty truck standards will save an additional 500 million barrels of oil over the life of the trucks.  This is the equivalent of more oil than we imported last year from Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Mexico, Kuwait, Nigeria, Brazil, Iraq, and Angola combined.

These savings in oil consumption can be achieved using technologies and infrastructure available today.  Tomorrow can provide an even better story, one without oil.

Nissan’s battery-electric, zero tailpipe emissions Leaf is sold out for the year. Tesla already has more than 2,000 orders for its 2012 7-seater, all-electric, 300 mile range Model S.  Hydrogen Fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEV) are already on the road, and based on auto industry projections, ten of thousands of FCEVs are expected on the road by 2016.  Progress continues to be made toward high-efficiency biofuels made from algae, prairie grass, and ivy.

Both battery and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles consume no oil,  emit zero tailpipe emissions, and run on energy collected domestically.  Assuming we aggressively de-carbonize our electric grid (using solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal energy sources), future travel can and should produce close to zero emissions and avoid the potential for any oil spills.

We cannot get to this zero emissions future without enacting strong policies that give companies the incentive to develop and implement these zero and low carbon technologies.

The upcoming White House Energy Summit can be an important step towards in this direction.  With strong legislative action, we can set the nation on path to energy self-sufficiency.  As we’ve seen from the past, presidential proclamations do not get us off oil.  It will take a nation devoted to the cause, refusing to let established industry interests dictate our future by demanding a sustainable path forward.

The time for change is now.  Let’s demand it so that our next president will no longer only be talking about getting us off of oil, but reporting the tremendous progress we’ve made toward breaking our oil addiction.  Our waters, land, air, and the people whose livelihoods depend on them will thank us for it.