John Rockefeller: founder of Standard Oil, held a monopoly over oil, richest man in history
Richard Nixon: initially implemented price controls against inflation, but had to adjust to 1973 Oil Crisis; announced Project Independence to wean US off foreign oil dependence, but had to leave office because of the
Watergate scandal
Gerald Ford: continued Project Independence, but stepped from total to “reasonable” self-sufficiency, created Energy Policy and Conservation Act 1975, emphasized relation between energy, economy, and national security
Admiral Hyman Rickover: oversaw the commission of the first nuclear sub, the USS Nautilus
Rachel Carson: wrote Silent Spring, which helped US environmental movement
Paul Ehrlich: wrote Population Bomb, which argued overpopulation is cause of world’s problems
Al Gore: signed Kyoto Protocol on behalf of US, but wasn’t actually done
M. King Hubbert: predicted that oil production would irreversibly decline between 1965 and 1971
Thomas Edison: invented incandescent light bulb, created need for electricity, supporter of direct current
George Westinghouse: supporter of alternating current
Dwight Eisenhower: gave the Atoms for Peace speech
Significant Events:
1859- Oil first drilled in Pennyslvania by George Bissell
1878- Invention of lightbulb, created need for energy
1962- Silent Spring by Rachel Carson is published( helps start environmental movement)
1963- The Clean Air Act, the first environmental law, is passed
1973- The 1973 Oil Embargo, creates new interest in sources of energy outside of Arabian dependence
1979- Second Oil Crisis caused by the Iranian Revolution
1986- Cherynobyl Disaster in Ukraine- creates initial concern over Nuclear energy
1992- the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change is created
CAFÉ: Corporate Average Fuel Economy
PURPA: Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of
1978
PUHCA: Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935
GHGs: Greenhouse Gases
IPCC: Intergovenrmental Panel on Climate Change
By Chanel, Robby, and Alex
NUCLEAR CRISES!!!!!
1979 Three Mile Island Disaster near
Middletown, Pennsylvania, halted US nuclear industry for a long while
1986 Cherynobyl Disaster: destroyed after an ill-conceived reactor systems test and crappy design. A total of 335,000 people had to evacuate
2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Powerplant caused by a 9.0 earthquake and tsunami which knocked out the reactor’s backup generators,
Thousands were evacuated
Important Laws/ Political groups and importance:
Montreal Protocol 1987, U.S joined 23 countries, working together to eliminate ozone-depleting
CFCs by the year 2000 Kyoto Protocol- Adopted on
December 11, 1997, the treaty includes 192 members that worked to reduce GHGs emission by certain time periods, but U.S. was never a member and Japan, Canada, and Russia withdrew
United Nations Convention on Climate Change-
Receives more widespread support than Kyoto because it does not mandate emissions reductions.
National Environmental Policy Act NEPA 1970
U.S. environment law established a national policy of protecting the environment and created the CEQ
Natural Resource Defense Council -NRDC 1970, formed to help citizens to draft environmental laws and allow them to lobby for environmental policy.
Energy Policy and Conservation Act - EPCA,
Gerald Ford 1975, reduce U.S. reliance on imported oil, increase energy production, reduce energy demands, promote cleaner sources of energy, extend price control on oil, and expand
Executive Branch's power more to respond to energy disruptions
Natural Energy Act of 1978 - an act aimed to reduce dependency on foreign oil, coal became more significant, increased energy efficiency, updated conservation principles, and created the electric market
*was rebuilt on the occurrences that happened during the 1973 oil crisis

Wind: fastest growing source of renewable energy.
Generates energy from turbines connected to blades, but has drawbacks due to intermittency
Solar: uses concentrating solar power (CSP) and photovolatics( solar cells) to generate energy from the sun;
CSP is less efficient, however, suffers from the same drawback of intermittency
Biofuels: the Commonly used source for ethanol biofuel in the US is soybean oil. Renewable Fuel Standard allows for the increased production of biofuels
Geothermal: Heat stored in rock and trapped in liquids like water or brine; can be recovered as steam or how water, and can be used in three different ways: direct use or district heating pumps, electricity generation, and geothermal heat pumps
Shale Gas- gas that resides in source rock. Its drilling has caused some debate over its potential for water contamination. Is not an alternative form of energy, but an alternative form of getting gas
Fast Facts :
 Oil was first drilled in Pennsylvania
 The 1973 Oil Crisis was caused by an Oil Embargo by OPEC after the US supported Israel in the
October War
 OPEC = Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries
 Carbon Dioxide, Nitrous Oxide, Methane, and water vapor are the main greenhouse gases
 Energy = Power x time, and Power = Energy/
Time
 About 90% of energy used in incandescent bulbs is wasted
 China is currently the world leader in greenhouse emissions
 According to the IEA, solar power can provide up to ⅓ of the energy demand after 2060
 The 1973 Oil Crisis is significant for introducing a new interest in alternative Energy
 Fewer nations are a part of the Kyoto Protocol because it actually mandated reductions in emissions
 The US consumed about 97 quads of energy in
2012
 Japan, Russia, and Canada all withdrew from the
Kyoto Protocol
 The 1979 Oil crisis was caused by the Iranian
Revolution
 Adaption: responding to environmental changes, mitigation: reducing environmental changes
 Oil was first used in Mesopotamia in 3000 BC
EVEN MORE IMPORTANT LAWS AND
POLITICAL GROUPS
( just as important, but more of them)
Natural Energy Act of 1978 - an act aimed to reduce dependency on foreign oil, coal became more significant, increased energy efficiency, updated conservation principles, and created the electric market
*was rebuilt on the occurrences that happened during the 1973 oil crisis
National Energy Conservation Policy Act-
1978, this act is a foundation for the most current energy requirements and is the authority for federal energy management goals and requirements
Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of
1978 PURPA, Part of the National Energy
Conservation Policy Act, it helped to enable domestic renewable energy use by forcing electric utilities to buy power from nontraditional power producers which allowed for more competition
EPAct of 1992- established energy management goals, provide subsidies and tax credits for electric vehicles, decrease use of energy in federal building, and deregulated imported natural gas
EPAct of 2005 - Act that provided tax incentives and loan guarantees for renewable energy and coal, and exempted oil and gas producers from certain requirements of the
State Drinking Water Act
Energy Independence and Security Act of
2007 EISA, created more energy independence and security by increasing the production of renewable fuels, energy efficiency in products, buildings, and vehicles and improve energy in the Federal
Government
Seven Sisters: competitors of OPEC made up of private oil companies