6. Energy Use Transparency Act
Summary: Require vehicle manufacturers to add functionality to their onboard displays that shows the energy utilization of the vehicle or device in dollars and cents.
Background: Republicans have been working diligently for decades to smear government regulation, part of their efforts to undermine moderated capitalism. However good regulation doesn’t take control away from individuals, it extends control to individuals. Virtually every family in American is impacted by gasoline costs and how they can save money. The Energy Transparency Act gives families a better ability to understand and potentially control their monthly gas costs, and highlights how regulations can be used to make their lives better. It gives Red State Democratic candidates an issue that addresses both concerns over the environment (the need to reduce use of fossil fuels) and voters’ concerns over the cost of living.
Background: Republicans have been working diligently for decades to smear government regulation, part of their efforts to undermine moderated capitalism. However good regulation doesn’t take control away from individuals, it extends control to individuals. Virtually every family in American is impacted by gasoline costs and how they can save money. The Energy Transparency Act gives families a better ability to understand and potentially control their monthly gas costs, and highlights how regulations can be used to make their lives better. It gives Red State Democratic candidates an issue that addresses both concerns over the environment (the need to reduce use of fossil fuels) and voters’ concerns over the cost of living.
Most Americans are conscious of their monthly spending on gasoline and electricity or natural gas. Given the cost of energy, many Americans already take steps to conserve their energy use and spending. However unless they’ve invested in a home energy monitor system they have almost no visibility into how that electricity is consumed in their house – how much the TV uses, or the phone charger. Every electronic device comes with information on how electricity it draws, but there is no easy way to calculate, for example, the amount of energy your refrigerator uses. We have better transparency into our spending on gasoline for our vehicle, with most trip computers able to measure and display miles travelled, miles per gallon and in some cases the amount of gasoline used on a trip.
However, even cars and trucks lack the most important kind of transparency: cost. Vehicles might tell the driver that they travelled fifteen miles, but they don’t tell the driver that the gas cost of the trip was $3.70. For most Americans, money is the reference point we use to consider and plan our activities. We think of the cost of going to the movie, or of taking a vacation, or even smaller things, like buying snacks for the soccer team. Money is the universal standard that helps us compare and select from the many different options available.
Virtually every electronics device already comes with an input. Virtually every new car now has a trip computer with a way of making selections. Vehicle and device manufacturers should be required to add functionality to allow the cost of the energy to be input, and then calculate and display the cost of usage. For the vast majority of manufacturers, it will require only an inexpensive software upgrade. Vehicle manufacturers would have to add the ability for consumers to click to increase or decrease the cost of gas. Electronics manufacturers would have to add the ability to enter the cost of a kilowatt of electricity. People won’t necessarily adjust the price of gas every time they fill up, but even an approximate cost will give them far greater visibility into their energy spending, and more control over their energy spending.
Our world depends on massive amounts of inexpensive energy, mostly from non-renewable resources. A key responsibility of our government is to make sure this generation, and future generations have access to the energy they need without causing catastrophic harm to our planet. There is no grand answer to achieving energy security. Instead it will come from the cumulative outcome of hundreds or even thousands of initiatives, projects and improvements. Giving consumers better control over their energy spending is one of the small things which, together, will help us have energy security while also minimizing the damage using that energy does to our world.