On his last day in office, January 19, 1977, President Gerald Ford issued a clarion call on energy: 

“America cannot permit the excessive delays associated with the commercialization of unconventional energy technologies.  New production is essential.  Our national security and economic well-being depend on our ability to act decisively on energy.”

More than three decades have passed since President Ford and his energy czar, Frank Zarb, worked to develop the nation’s first comprehensive energy policy and put the United States on the rocky road to rethinking energy technology.  At the time the first energy policy was developed, Ford’s administration was responding primarily to the oil embargo crisis of the early 1970s.  A major goal was to drive the amount of imported oil used for transportation down from the then-current 35 percent of national consumption.  Despite the President’s warnings, and the recognized negative influence that oil dependency has on foreign policy and defense policy options, current statistics show that 49 percent of our oil consumption is from foreign sources.

As to the production of electricity, since Ford’s call to action some of the “unconventional energy technologies” have matured, and some have not.  While unlimited fusion energy remains a far-off dream, renewable energy technologies are being deployed.  Wind energy has gained a strong foothold in our nation’s energy portfolio, and solar energy is finally on the brink of becoming a major energy source.  Bioenergy, in a variety of forms, has both near-term economic applications and long term possibilities, such as airplane fuel from algae.

Under President Ford’s leadership and Frank Zarb’s foresight, the Energy Research and Development Administration was created as part of the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974. This agency, which was replaced three years later by the Department of Energy, was an important step in bringing together the diverse energy activities across the federal government.  It produced a series of national energy plans that advocated experimentation and energy leadership to stimulate private-sector commercialization.

So where are we on President Ford’s vision thirty-four years later? The alternative energy effort had plodded along with the help of National Renewable Energy Laboratory (another offspring of the Ford Administration’s pioneering efforts) and a mixed bag of partial governmental energy policies still aiming for the “commercialization of unconventional energy technologies.“  No one can doubt the government’s role is critical.  As with many new technologies that have yielded benefits across the nation over time, such a large undertaking requires “encouragement”.  The Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads were given twenty square miles of land plus mineral rights for every mile of track built as the encouragement that ultimately led to the interstate railroad system (and tangentially to the development of the steel industry).   The fledgling airline industry was able to grow due in large measure from the U.S. post office paying to carry the mail at rates which allowed the growth of passengers carrying capacity.  Oil and gas companies lease federal lands at rates intended to encourage these industries.  Who can argue that these governmental policies have not been important to the nation’s overall economic development and ultimate strength and well-being?  

Electric utility companies are not going to voluntarily adopt renewable energy technologies merely because they will improve air quality (and thus national health) or because they will utilize abundant, locally available, and free resources (such as the energy of the wind and the sun) or because they will improve national security (through distributed generation and providing transportation alternatives to imported oil).  No, a national energy policy, such as the one envisioned by President Ford, is needed to further encourage and drive renewable energy technologies.  Just as seat belts and air bags would likely not have reached the marketplace without governmental requirements, and gas mileage improvements were not on the horizon until governmental standards were devised to drive innovation, a national energy policy is needed to finally realize the goals of unconventional energy technology implementation envisioned by President Ford.

On Tuesday, September 20, Frank Zarb will in Grand Rapids to give a free lecture at 7:30 pm at the Ford Museum entitled:  Our Most Important Policy Failure – Energy. If you would like to attend, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation at events@38foundation.org or call 616-254-0393 to reserve your seat.