As the field of candidates for President narrows on the heels of the Iowa Caucus, it might be a good time to take another look at where the candidates stand on various issues related to energy use, development, and conservation. 

CNN Money does a pretty good job of providing a quick overview of where the leading candidates stand on various energy-related policy issues.  You can see them for yourself here.

Of course, whenever politicians talk, a lot of wind blows–which reminds me…

Now that oil has broken the $100 a barrel mark–and with the dollar still falling against other major currencies–the opportunity space for business and economic development in the Great Lakes region centered around energy issues has changed–for the better, we would argue. 

While the falling dollar has driven up substantially the cost of delivering power from off-shore turbines, it also creates an opportunity for the US to become a lower-cost manufacturer of both components that can be distributed world-wide and full asssemblies for use in the US.  And the fresh water feasibility study being run in Cleveland on Lake Erie is already uncovering opportunities, especially with respect to base and footing designs, that may disrupt the existing market and lower the cost of delivery at the same time. 

Sure, markets that don’t exist can’t be forecast, and a lot of people view offshore wind as “quixotic” to say the least.  But given global and regional demand for renewable energy sources and our region’s strengths in polymers, manufacturing, and aeronautics–not to mention our vast and highly accessible offshore wind capacity–make this a venture well worth pursuing.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 4th, 2008 at 11:42 am and is filed under Policy, Strategy, Sustainability, Advanced Energy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.