Energy policy of the United States topic's main category Category:Energy policy of the United States
History
In the early days of the Republic energy policy allowed free use of standing timber for heating and industry. Wind and water provided energy for tasks such as milling grain. In the 19th century, coal became widely used. Whales were rendered into lamp oil. Coal gas was fractionated for use as lighting and town gas. Natural gas was first used in America for lighting in 1816. It has grown in importance, especially for electricity generation, but US natural gas production peaked in 1973 and the price has risen significantly since then.
Coal provided the bulk of the US energy needs well into the 20th century. Most urban homes had a coal bin and a coal-fired furnace. Over the years these were replaced with oil furnaces that were easier and safer to operate.From the early 1940s, the US government and oil industry entered into a mutually beneficial collaboration to control global oil resources. By 1950, oil consumption exceeded that of coal. Abundant oil in California, Texas, Oklahoma, as well as in Canada and Mexico, coupled with its low cost, ease of transportation, high energy density, and use in internal combustion engines, led to its increasing use.Following World War II, oil heating boilers took over from coal burners along the Eastern Seaboard; diesel locomotives took over from coal-fired steam engines; oil-fired power plants dominated; petroleum-burning buses replaced electric streetcars, and citizens bought gasoline-powered cars. Interstate Highways helped make cars the major means of personal transportation. As oil imports increased, US foreign policy was drawn into Middle East politics, seeking to maintain steady supply via actions such as protcting Persian Gulf sea lanes.Hydroelectricity was the basis of Nikola Tesla's introduction of the US electricity grid, starting at Niagara Falls, New York, in 1883. Electricity generated by major dams such as the TVA Project, Grand Coulee Dam and Hoover Dam still produce some of the lowest-priced ($0.08/kWh) electricity. Rural electrification strung power lines to many more areas.A National Maximum Speed Limit of 55 mph (88 km/h) was imposed in 1974 (and repealed in 1995) to help reduce consumption. Corporate Average Fuel Economy (aka CAFE) standards were enacted in 1975 and progressively tightened over time to compel manufacturers to improve vehicle mileage. Year-round Daylight Saving Time was imposed in 1974 and repealed in 1975. The United States Strategic Petroleum Reserve was created in 1975.
The Weatherization Assistance Program was enacted in 1977. This program has provided services to more than 5.5 million low-income families. On average, low-cost weatherization reduces heating bills by 31% and overall energy bills by $358 per year at 2012 prices. Increased energy efficiency and weatherization spending has a high return on investment.On August 4, 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed into law The Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977 (Pub. L. 95–91, 91 Stat. 565, enacted August 4, 1977), which created the United States Department of Energy (DOE). The new agency, which began operations on October 1, 1977, consolidated the Federal Energy Administration, the Energy Research and Development Administration, the Federal Power Commission, and programs of various other agencies. Former Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger, who served under Presidents Nixon and Ford during the Vietnam War, was appointed as the first secretary.
On June 30, 1980, Congress passed the Energy Security Act, which reauthorized the Defense Production Act of 1950 and enabled it to cover domestic energy supplies. It also obligated the federal government to promote and reform the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, biofuels, geothermal power, acid rain prevention, solar power, and synthetic fuel commercialization. The Defense Production Act was further reauthorized in 2009, with modifications requiring the federal government to promote renewable energy, energy efficiency, and improved grid and grid storage installations with its defense procurements.The federal government provided substantially larger subsidies to fossil fuels than to renewables in the 2002–2008 period. Subsidies to fossil fuels totaled approximately $72 billion over the study period, a direct cost to taxpayers. Subsidies for renewable fuels, totaled $29 billion over the same period.In some cases, the US used energy policy to pursue other international goals. Richard Heinberg claimed that a declassified CIA document showed that the US used oil prices as leverage against the economy of the Soviet Union by working with Saudi Arabia during the Reagan administration to keep oil prices low, thus decreasing the value of the USSR's petroleum export industry.The 2005 Energy Policy Act (EPA) addressed (1) energy efficiency; (2) renewable energy; (3) oil and gas; (4) coal; (5) tribal energy; (6) nuclear matters; (7) vehicles and motor fuels, including ethanol; (8) hydrogen; (9) electricity; (10) energy tax incentives; (11) hydropower and geothermal energy; and (12) climate change technology. The Act also started the Department of Energy's Loan Guarantee Program.The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 provided funding to help improve building codes, and outlawed the sale of incandescent light bulbs, in favor of fluorescents and LEDs. It also includes funding to increase photovoltaics, and a solar air conditioning program and set the CAFE standard to 35 mpg by 2020.
In December 2009, the United States Patent and Trademark Office announced the Green Patent Pilot Program. The program was initiated to accelerate the examination of patent applications relating to certain green technologies, including the energy sector. The pilot program was initially designed to accommodate 3,000 applications related to certain green technology categories, and the program was originally set to expire on December 8, 2010. In May 2010, the USPTO announced that it would expand the pilot program.In 2016, federal government energy-specific subsidies and support for renewables, fossil fuels, and nuclear energy amounted to $6,682 million, $489 million and $365 million, respectively.On June 1, 2017, then-President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would cease participation in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation agreed to under the President Barack Obama administration. On November 3, 2020, incoming President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. would resume its participation.The Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicted that the reduction in energy consumption in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic would take many years to recover. The US imported much of its oil for many decades but in 2020 became a net exporter.In December 2020, Trump signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, which contained the Energy Act of 2020, the first major revision package to U.S. energy policy in over a decade. The bill contains increased incentives for energy efficiency particularly in federal government buildings, improved funding for weatherization assistance, standards to phase out the use of hydrofluorocarbons, plans to rebuild the nation's energy research sector including fossil fuel research, and $7 billion in demonstration projects for carbon capture and storage.Under President Joe Biden, one-third of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was tapped to reduce energy prices during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also invoked the Defense Production Act to boost manufacturing of solar cells and other renewable energy generators, fuel cells and other electricity-dependent clean fuel equipment, building insulation, heat pumps, critical power grid infrastructure, and electric vehicle batteries.Biden also signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to invest $73 billion in the energy sector. $11 billion of that amount will be invested in power grid infrastructure. (In November 2022 the Biden administration announced the first $550 million in a new grant program for clean energy generators for low-income and minority communities.) $6 billion of the former amount will go to domestic nuclear power. From the $73 billion, the IIJA invests $45 billion in innovation and industrial policy for key emerging technologies in energy; $430 million–21 billion in new demonstration projects at the DOE; and nearly $24 billion in onshoring, supply chain resilience, and bolstering competitive advantages in energy, divided into an $8.6 billion investment in carbon capture and storage, $3 billion in battery material reprocessing, $3 billion in battery recycling, $1 billion in rare-earth minerals stockpiling, and $8 billion in new research hubs for green hydrogen. $4.7 billion will go to plugging orphan wells abandoned by oil and gas companies.In August 2022, Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act to boost DOE and National Science Foundation research activities by $174 billion and the Inflation Reduction Act to create assistance programs for utility cooperatives and a $27 billion green bank, including $6 billion to lower the cost of solar power in low-income communities and $7 billion to capitalize smaller green banks, and appropriate $270-663 billion in clean energy and energy efficiency tax credits, including at least $158 billion for investments in clean energy, and $36 billion for home energy upgrades from public utilities. The Biden administration claims the IIJA, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act,  together catalyzed $503 billion in private investment (including $219 billion in electronics, $149 billion in EVs and batteries, and $88 billion in clean energy generators) and over $225 billion in public infrastructure spending as of July 5, 2023.