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The most important concern in the latest presidential election campaign in the U.S. is the energy policy issue. Both the Republicans and Democrats are addressing this issue and both are keen on cutting down expenditure on foreign oil and also the large scale reliance of U.S economy on the foreign oil.

You may find out what each candidate is saying by taking a look at the following. Democratic candidate Barack Obama as well as Republican candidate John McCain are paying serious attention to energy issues. Analysts have commented on their policies and it is explained for you in lucid terms below.

OFFSHORE DRILLING

Initially Obama was against lifting the congressional moratorium on drilling in federal lands off U.S. coasts. Recently however he has switched to supporting limited expanded offshore drilling as a part of broader legislation to help solve America’s energy problems.

McCain defends expanding the offshore drilling program to tap the projected 18 billion barrels of oil that is present on the outer continental shelf of U.S. He has said that this will be done without harming the environment in any way.

STRATEGIC PETROLEUM RESERVE

McCain is against opening up the reserved stock pile of oil unless he feels, what he calls, a serious shortage far outreaching the demand or disorder in the supply machinery.

Initially, Obama too opposed releasing oil from the reserve unless there was a critical disruption of supply, but he has recently changed his stance and now supports releasing 70 million barrels of light sweet crude, later to be compensated by heavier crude.

WINDFALL PROFITS TAX

Obama supports a tax cut for middle and lower middle classes. He wants to do this via a five-year windfall tax on profits of large scale oil companies. The burden of high energy prices will thus be compensated by the tax from large oil companies themselves. The middle and lower middle classes therefore can enjoy the benefits of a $1,000 tax rebate under the Obama presidency.

McCain is against burdening the oil companies with new taxes.

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Obama wants to give an impetus to alternative fuel usage by means of a $7,000 tax credit for people who buy “advanced” automobiles. He wants over a million plug-in hybrid cars on the go by 2015. Obama also wishes to raise the Renewable Fuel Standard to at least 60 billion gallons of highly developed biofuels like cellulosic ethanol by 2030; create a proper ethanol distribution infrastructure, direct that all new vehicles be “flexfuel” by the time his first term in office ends. He wishes to ensure the production of 2 billion gallons of “cellulosic” ethanol from non-corn sources like switchgrass by 2013.

McCain however is against ethanol inducements and has said that he would abolish the import tariff on sugar cane-based ethanol. Basically, he is against subsidies and tariffs that disrupt market practices; he wants a $5,000 tax credit for buying zero carbon emission cars; He wants a tiered structure that gives highest tax credit to the least carbon emitting car. McCain too, backs the usage of “flexfuel” automobiles.

SPECULATION ON FUTURES MARKETS

Obama has advised government control on trading and regulated exchange. He wants proper information on markets especially on index funds and other similar ventures. He supports legalized sanction and directives issued to the Commodity Futures Exchange Commission to look up proposals which suggest increasing margin requirements in the market; He backs closing up the Enron Loophole.

McCain on the other hand is worried about the speculative nature of the market. He too backs closing the Enron Loophole, looking into probable market exploitation and manipulation and making new laws and regulations regularizing the oil futures market to make them more clear and successful.

NUCLEAR POWER

McCain wishes to create 45 new nuclear reactors by 2030, and finally wants 100 new nuclear plants built in U.S. He backs the storing of nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada desert.

Obama too backs the usage of nuclear power, but feels that nuclear waste disposition and proliferation is an important concern too. He is against the Yucca Mountain plan.

GASOLINE TAX HOLIDAY

McCain has given a proposal of the gasoline tax holiday. In it he would deflect funds from general government revenues compensating for transportation projects funded by the tax.

Obama is against temporarily removing the federal tax on gasoline. He thinks that temporary tax benefit is not the real answer to the problem.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Obama wants to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050; that is take it to the 1990 level by 2020.He wants the reduction of carbon content by 10 percent by 2020.

McCain wants a CO2reduction too, he wants to lower emissions by 30 percent by 2050.

OIL USE

McCain wants U.S to be self reliant by 2025 in its oil usage. Obama wishes to lower down oil usage by at least 35 per cent or 10 million barrels per day by 2030, to reduce the reliance on OPEC nations.

ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

Obama is against Arctic National Wildlife Refuge drilling. McCain wishes to have more offshore oil drilling, does not back ANWR drilling at the moment.

ENERGY RESEARCH

Obama wishes to spend $150 billion over 10 years on low-carbon energy sources, double R&D expenditure on biomass, solar and wind resources; speed up commercialization of plug-in hybrids, encourage low-emissions coal plants.

McCain has proposed giving $300 million to the auto company that invents a car battery that will ensure that U.S is free from oil usage. He wants to spend $2 billion every year to encourage clean coal technology.

VEHICLE FUEL ECONOMY

Obama wants to double fuel economy standards in 18 years; encourage auto makers by giving them tax incentives for making new engines and lightweight materials.

McCain does not have specific Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) targets. He backs increasing fines for auto companies that violate CAFE standards and wants to give tax benefits founded on carbon emissions of automobiles.

ELECTRICITY

Obama wishes to ensure that renewable energy is used by U.S utilities for at least 25 percent of their work by 2025.

McCain wants the government to ensure increased investment to improve and advance the national grid; he wishes to make sure that the grid has the capability to charge electricity run automobiles on a large scale and backs the use of SmartMeter technologies. This SmartMeter technology will ensure that consumers get an accurate estimate of their energy usage and promote cost effective usage of power.

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According to a latest Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll, voters in the United States are going all out to demand more solar and wind energy — but that does not mean they are opposed to drilling for more oil at the same time.

The opinion poll’s findings indicate that whatsoever political advantage Democrats or Republicans desire to get from the national argument over energy policy will be dependent on how skillfully they bundle their perspectives. Democrats have contradicted amplified offshore drilling and accentuated options to oil. Republicans have demanded amplifying oil exploration to regions presently out-of-bounds. Leaders in both parties have begun struggling for ground someplace in the middle, where a big chunk of electors appear to stand.

According to the Journal-NBC poll, 72% of the responders said that developing alternate energy sources could achieve a great deal. When the question was asked in a different way, 61% of respondents chose developing alternative energy sources as the step that should receive the most stress from policy makers. Twenty-five percent responded that exploring and drilling for oil in the United States should get the most stress, and 12% picked “having Americans economize and utilize less oil.”

When asked whether expanding areas for drilling for oil off coastal states was a step in the right direction, 63% said it was, with 44% saying it would accomplish a great deal. Only 27% said that allowing for further drilling off coastal states was a step in the wrong direction.

Asked about building more nuclear plants, 53% said it was a step in the right direction. Thirty-one percent said it was a step “in the wrong direction.”

The results suggest that the ongoing energy debate between Republican presidential candidate John McCain and his Democratic challenger, Barack Obama is not the fight that the American public cares about.

The poll found greater levels of skepticism among voters about releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve — an idea recommended by Sen. Obama and many congressional Democrats — and setting aside the federal gas tax, an idea defended by Sen. McCain. Fewer than half of those polled thought those ideas were a step in the right direction.

According to analysts, what the voters are saying is that there needs to be a whole new way of considering troubles, and that they do not want the same old fights and the same old divisions.

After weeks of criticizing expanded drilling, Sen. Obama has said he could support an expansion of offshore drilling, as long as it is part of a “genuine bipartisan compromise” that includes other measures to reduce the country’s oil dependence.

Many Republicans have brushed aside that statement, saying they suspect the Democrats’ proposal will contain other provisions objectionable to their side. Sen. McCain has also continued to attack Sen. Obama on the issue, visiting an offshore oil rig this week to highlight his support for more offshore oil production

Congress is gearing up to return to Washington in September to debate whether to pass new legislation that attempts to respond to high oil prices by funding alternative-energy sources and expanding access to domestic petroleum. Central points in the debate are whether to lift the 27-year-old drilling moratorium that largely covers the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and whether to expand tax credits and other subsidies for alternate energy technology such as wind and solar power.

Read more about Investing in Renewable Technologies: Wind, Solar, Geotherm, Hydro, Biomass