U.S. president calls for more solar and wind energy

WASHINGTON, DC, US, January 31, 2007 (Refocus Weekly) The United States must rely more on green power and green fuels, according to the 2007 ‘State of the Union’ address by president George Bush.

“Extending hope and opportunity depends on a stable supply of energy that keeps America's economy running and America's environment clean,” he said. “For too long, our nation has been dependent on foreign oil and this dependence leaves us more vulnerable to hostile regimes, and to terrorists who could cause huge disruptions of oil shipments, and raise the price of oil, and do great harm to our economy.”

“It's in our vital interest to diversify America's energy supply; the way forward is through technology,” he continued. “We must continue changing the way America generates electric power, by even greater use of clean coal technology, solar and wind energy, and clean, safe nuclear power.”

He called for more battery research for plug-in and hybrid vehicles, and expanded use of clean diesel vehicles and biodiesel fuel. “We must continue investing in new methods of producing ethanol, using everything from wood chips to grasses, to agricultural wastes.”

He asked Congress to pursue the goal of reducing gasoline usage in the U.S. by 20% in the next ten years, which would reduce imports by three-quarters of current oil sourced in the Middle East. “To reach this goal, we must increase the supply of alternative fuels by setting a mandatory fuels standard to require 35 billion gallons of renewable and alternative fuels in 2017 - and that is nearly five times the current target.”
The president's plan calls for facilitating the growth of renewable and alternative fuel sources by increasing the size and expanding the scope of the current renewable fuel standard. The current RFS, established in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, “has contributed to the rapid acceleration of the development and use of renewable fuels,” according to background documents.

Under current law, fuel blenders must use 7.5 billion gallons of renewable fuels in 2012. Under the latest proposal, the fuel standard will be set at 35 billion gallons in 2017, which will displace 15% of projected annual gasoline use in that year. The proposal will also increase the scope of the current RFS, expanding it to an Alternative Fuel Standard which includes sources such as corn ethanol, cellulosic ethanol, biodiesel, methanol, butanol, hydrogen, and alternative fuels.

Bush’s 2008 budget includes $2.7 billion for the Advanced Energy Initiative, an increase of 26% above the 2007 request and 53% above 2006. It provides $179 million for the biofuels initiative, which aims to accelerate cost reduction and commercial development of cellulosic ethanol from abundant biomass materials.

By 2017, the renewable fuel and fuel efficiency components of the plan would reduce annual GHG emissions from cars and light trucks by 10% or 175 Mt, equivalent to zeroing the annual emissions of 26 million cars. The plan could cumulatively prevent the buildup of 600 Mt of CO2 emissions.


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