Watching the news is a dangerous enterprise for those of us trying to maintain a clear picture of this election season’s most important issues. Despite all the chatter, it seems relatively obvious that our most fundamental problem is American energy policy, or more specifically: oil prices and our dependence on cheap energy.

If you buy that premise, which I’m prepared to debate elsewhere, then this election should really only be decided by one evaluation criterion: which candidate has a better plan to reduce our oil consumption, replace it with viable alternatives, and spur innovation and commercial development of new technologies (and a new green-collar economy)?

A quick survey of both candidate’s websites makes it fairly obvious (see the official stance of Obama and McCain). I’ll be comparing each candidate’s plan in more detail later on, but for now I’ve republished some of the main points from Obama’s campaign website, in order to highlight how he intends on dealing with oil prices and our dependence on them.

To assist in this evaluation, here are three important criteria. If we’re serious about transitioning away from petroleum as our primary transportation fuel, we’re going to have to hit it from multiple angles. It doesn’t seem totally unreasonable to estimate that each of these could account for 1/3 of our total fuel usage:

• Decrease consumption and improve efficiency (#8 & 9).
• Develop and rapidly commercialize alternative fuels and infrastructure (#1, 4, 5, 6, 7).
• Develop and rapidly implement new technology (#1, 2, 3).

Key elements of Obama’s plan:

1. Invest $150 Billion over 10 Years in Clean Energy with a focus on technology developed in the US:

This includes next generation biofuels and fuel infrastructure, commercialization of plug-in hybrids, development of commercial-scale renewable energy, low-emissions coal plants, and beginning the transition to a new digital electricity grid.

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