An urgent call to our leaders to lead an inspiring energy crusade

The president and Congress have just sent more than $100 billion in rebates to the American people in the hope of lessening an economic disaster in which the fear of downward-spiraling housing prices, more foreclosures and less lending could turn a mild recession into what Robert Schiller of The New York Times describes as “a long and deep depression.” The goal of this economic stimulus was quickly agreed to by all the powers that be to avoid such an impending disaster.

The fact that our government was increasing the already enormous federal deficit and raising government debt by $100 billion did not dissuade our leaders from taking this step so readily. It was felt to be critical and so the expenditure was quickly enacted, despite the fact that there was no assurance that this action would achieve the desired goal. Nevertheless, $100 billion was quickly found to launch what our leaders felt was a most worthy, even absolutely vital, effort.

So when the goal sought is perceived to be “vital,” the president and Congress are clearly capable of coming up with the dollars to deal with the challenging issue.

At this time in the life of our country from an economic point of view, from a security point of view, and from the point of view of almost every American citizen whose lives are daily affected, it’s absolutely imperative that we reduce our need for the gasoline that in cars, trucks, airplanes, ships, trains, and so forth, accounts for 67 percent of our oil usage.

No matter how effectively we introduce wind or solar power, or use more efficient appliances, we will effect only minimal change in our need for oil, since less than 2 percent of our electricity is generated from oil. Coal accounts for 49 percent, natural gas for 20 percent, nuclear for another 19 percent, and hydroelectric for 7 percent. Yes, it would certainly help to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emission pollution, and it would have a most salutary effect on global warming if we increasingly use alternatives to fossil fuels, but it would have almost no impact in terms of our oil appetite. To solve this problem, to successfully realize the goal of eliminating our dependence on oil, we must find a way to propel our transportation vehicles with alternatives to oil, or at the very least, to require a minimal amount of oil.

There is no more critical issue than this.

We must launch an all-out effort to come up with alternative energy and technologies to eliminate our dependence on oil from politically unstable governments and, in some cases, from hostile regimes. We need to approach the energy issue just as we so successfully confronted Germany and Japan in developing the first nuclear bomb with the unlimited, flat-out effort of the Manhattan Project. That dedicated, resolute approach achieved its indispensable objective. President Kennedy similarly launched the zealous, intensivze, powerful crusade to beat the Soviet Union in putting the first man on the moon with the Apollo project, in response to their earlier Sputnik launch.

Were we to commit to the same kind of all-out, energetic approach to developing alternatives to our dependence on the unstable, unreliable, dangerous sources of oil, our leaders would instantly launch a crusade and provide $100 billion and more, as they just did to help our economy avoid economic depression. They would not provide, as they do now, only the outrageously small and totally inadequate $2 billion a year for research and development on alternative energy.

We need to come up with new and powerful batteries to replace the ancient and mediocre ones still in use. We need potent new engines that would, we must hope, replace the internal combustion engine that dates back to the early Ford gasoline-driven automobiles of 1900. Other efforts should include developing more hybrid, electric and hydrogen-propelled cars, as well as generating all of the undreamed-of technological breakthroughs that our private corporations, independent laboratories and academic institutions can surely invent, develop and quickly bring to fruition.

Yes, drill for more oil in the interim, but that’s clearly not a solution and does not accomplish the ultimate goal, which is to eliminate the ubiquitous prevalence of fossil fuels. If drilling began today, it would be many years before the oil would be available from that initiative. Thus we would remain vulnerable to external dependence for much of what we require. But with an all-out, inspired crusade, America could lead a technological revolution, perhaps almost as important as the industrial revolution. It could also achieve significant results well before new drilling brought more oil onstream, and it would have far more desirable and beneficial long-term results for humanity.

With our help in the meantime, the president can do something meaningful. The president should call on all of us, every citizen and every company, to cut back by 10 percent the amount of petroleum product we use. Is that too much to ask? Surely we could make that kind of sacrifice at a time we are asking our very precious young men and women to enlist in the armed forces and in many cases sacrifice their lives and limbs to help preserve our enviable way of life.

We’d still be using 90 percent of what we are currently using, far more than any other people elsewhere in the world. If we made this small sacrifice, saving 10 percent of the 20-plus million barrels we use daily, we would reduce our use by 2 million barrels a day and help to reduce the exorbitant price we now pay for a barrel of oil. This would cut imports dramatically and reduce our negative balance of trade, which would strengthen the dollar. Remember, we have less than 5 percent of the world’s population and we use almost 25 percent of the world’s oil.

You, the esteemed political leaders we have selected to represent the best interests of our people and our country, must cease being so passive — continuing the years of benign neglect on this critical issue — and immediately start implementing this kind of active conservation program that can have an immediate, tremendously positive effect and is long overdue.

To our president and to our political leaders and to all the members of Congress, demonstrate that you are statesmen with a vision and a determination to create an economically stronger, more secure and safer America — indeed a better world — by launching and aggressively funding this all-important crusade.

If you do, you will surely be, just as John Kennedy was and is, praised, venerated and remembered admiringly for the bold leadership you will have demonstrated.

Davis, a shareholder in The Hill’s parent company, is an economist, an MBA graduate (with distinction) from Harvard Business School and author of From Hard Knocks to Hot Stocks (William Morrow and Co.) and Making America Work Again (Crown).