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b'Energy Policy: What\\u2019s Next? T.J. Glauthier, Former Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy James Sweeney, Director, Precourt Energy Efficiency Center, Stanford Tony Knowles, Chair, National Energy Policy Institute; Former Governor, Alaska The United States does not have a national energy policy. In this panel convened by Climate One three experts long involved in the US energy debate conspire to shape their own. The plan: steadily increasing the cost of gasoline at the pump, replace diesel with liquefied natural gas for heavy trucking, harvest cost-effective energy efficiency opportunities, and boost the production of shale gas.\\u201cThese are not new issues,\\u201d says former Alaska Governor Tony Knowles. \\u201cUnfortunately, I think Tom Friedman said it best: \\u2018Our national energy policy is more the sum total of our best lobbyists, rather than our best wisdom.\\u2019\\u201d Politics, not science or economics, has shaped our energy policy, Knowles says. A proposal recently put forward by the California Secure Transportation Energy Partnership, where Stanford University\\u2019s Jim Sweeney is a member, would add a penny per month to the state\\u2019s gas tax for 10 years. Tony Knowles cited a similar proposal recommended by the National Energy Policy Institute, which would increase the federal gas tax by $0.08 per gallon each year for 20 years with the goal of reducing oil consumption by 1.5 million barrels per day. Knowles and T.J. Glauthier, a former Deputy Secretary at the US Department of Energy, advocate for retrofitting the country\\u2019s heavy trucking fleet to run on domestic liquefied natural gas (LNG). \\u201cWe\\u2019ve got truck stops all over the country. If we spent some money helping build out the natural gas refueling parts of those truck stops, and provide some help to trucking companies for the conversions, there\\u2019s a huge benefit,\\u201d says Glauthier. Jim Sweeney, Director of Stanford\\u2019s Precourt Energy Efficiency Center, emphasizes the abundant opportunity that exists for consumers to save money with energy efficiency improvements. We just have to get the incentives right. \\u201cPeople talk about those as the \\u2018low-hanging fruit.\\u2019 Unfortunately, some of that fruit has been low-hanging for decades now and hasn\\u2019t been picked, which means there\\u2019s a reason,\\u201d he says. Knowles and Glauthier also recommend that shale gas be a part of the energy mix. \\u201cIt\\u2019s great for the American public, it\\u2019s great for the energy sector, to have natural gas supplies that are much larger, and they\\u2019re all domestic,\\u201d says Glauthier. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco on April 5th, 2011\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices'