Capturing the Energy Opportunity: Creating a Low-Carbon Economy

Publication Date: November 2007

Publisher: Center for American Progress

Author(s): John Podesta; Todd Stern; Kit Batten

Research Area: Energy

Type: Other

Abstract:

The energy challenge we face in this new century is extraordinary in its urgency, its stakes, its scope, and its opportunity. Of course, energy has long been at the intersection of the economy, environment, and national security, and its availability and price have always been important factors in economic performance. Because energy has been produced over the past two centuries mainly by burning fossil fuels, dirty byproducts soon threatened our air and water and spawned the modern environmental movement. Because critical elements of world energy supply come from unstable regions and hostile nations, energy has, for decades, played an important role in our national security.