A few months ago in a staff email thread, someone suggested compiling a summary list of 'theoildrum.com' energy recommendations for President Obama and the new Cabinet. After several days of emails, it became clear that our wide range of opinions and expertise formed consensus only on one fact: that oil supply was going to peak and decline much sooner than the mainstream energy media was aware and this requires change. Beyond that, even something as simple as improving energy efficiency could not be agreed upon without caveats, (in that case, Jevons Paradox).

All decisions will result in tradeoffs between the economy, energy and the environment. But asking the right questions in advance of making decisions is always advantageous. How quickly will low priced fossil fuels deplete? How do renewables measure up in terms of energy quality and scale? How large of environmental externalities (increased carbon emissions being but one) are we willing to endure to procure more energy? What role will efficiency and conservation play? What is all the energy for? Of the economic growth-energy-environment trifecta, must we 'choose two'? Etc.

There has been a vast wealth of energy information written and discussed on these pages over the past 3.5 years - over 2,000 articles, essays and posts. Not to condense some of this into recommendations to our nations policymakers would be a missed opportunity, especially given the confluence and complexities of the crises we now face. As such, in a series that will be posted here over the next 2 weeks, several of The Oil Drum staff are going to write individual letters outlining what we believe the President should focus on and be aware of regarding our energy situation.

Please stay tuned, and feel free to add you own recommendations below...