Biden-Energy

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Senator Joe Biden detailed his roadmap to energy independence today, and among other things he called for sacrifice -- something that only somebody who has the luxury of being in fifth place can afford to do.

According to the Des Moines Register, the Delaware Democrat told supporters at his Iowa headquarters that "the American people consistently have hit tough spots in our development where we've had to suck in and take a hit, make some sacrifices to regenerate their intelligence capacity as well as their grit - and come back with greater independence and greater flexibility."

Fortunately, taking it in the gut is only a small part of the Biden agenda. The rest of it is a smorgasbord of measures that sound fairly familiar by now:

*A $50 billion "Apollo-like" project to invest in alternative energy technologies and energy efficiency. (Hillary Clinton called her $50 billion package a "Strategic Energy Fund.")

*Measures that would increase the amount of bio- and alternative fuels in our energy diet, and a mandate that renewables power 20 percent of the electricity grid.

*An increase in vehicle fuel economy. Interestingly, Biden would scrap the fleet average requirements in place now with targets that are specific to a vehicle's weight and other attributes. Biden claims this would bring us to an average of 40 miles per gallon by 2017.

*Requiring the federal government to improve its energy efficiency.

And more. You can read the plan here. He has a separate plan to address global warming, headlined by, of course, a cap-and-trade program.

Happy Thanksgiving from a snow-dusted Iowa.