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Posted by 4120 Dead on July 20, 2008, 5:23 pm
On Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:26:12 -0700 (PDT), Don Tiberone
>http://www.greencarcongress.com/2008/07/gores-challenge.html#more
>
>Gore=92s Challenge to the US: 100% Zero-Carbon Electricity in 10 Years
>17 July 2008
>
>In a major speech given today at the DAR Constitution Hall in
>Washington DC, former Vice President Al Gore challenged the US to end
>its reliance on carbon-based fuels and to =93commit to producing 100
>percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean
>carbon-free sources within 10 years.=94
He's got an ally who would have been unthinkable a year ago: T. Boone
Pickens. The man is investing ten billion in a windfarm that will
stretch from Canada to Mexico down the central wind corridor that he
says will supply a third of the nation's power needs.
>
>While the primary focus of his speech was on power generation, Gore
>noted that the value and efficiency of an advanced, unified national
>power grid could be further increased by helping the auto industry
>switch to the manufacture of plug-in electric cars. =93An electric
>vehicle fleet would sharply reduce the cost of driving a car, reduce
>pollution, and increase the flexibility of our electricity grid.=94
>
>Gore said that the combination of serious economic, environmental and
>national security crises the US faces represent a =93present danger=94
>that puts =93the survival of the United States of America as we know
>it...at risk.=94 The common core of all of these challenges, he said, is
>=93our dangerous over-reliance on carbon-based fuels.=94
>
> A few years ago, it would not have been possible to issue such a
>challenge. But here=92s what=92s changed: the sharp cost reductions now
>beginning to take place in solar, wind, and geothermal power=97coupled
>with the recent dramatic price increases for oil and coal=97have
>radically changed the economics of energy.
>
> ...To those who argue that we do not yet have the technology to
>accomplish these results with renewable energy: I ask them to come
>with me to meet the entrepreneurs who will drive this revolution. I=92ve
>seen what they are doing and I have no doubt that we can meet this
>challenge.
>
> To those who say the costs are still too high: I ask them to
>consider whether the costs of oil and coal will ever stop increasing
>if we keep relying on quickly depleting energy sources to feed a
>rapidly growing demand all around the world. When demand for oil and
>coal increases, their price goes up. When demand for solar cells
>increases, the price often comes down.
>
> ...To those who say 10 years is not enough time, I respectfully
>ask them to consider what the world=92s scientists are telling us about
>the risks we face if we don=92t act in 10 years. The leading experts
>predict that we have less than 10 years to make dramatic changes in
>our global warming pollution lest we lose our ability to ever recover
>from this environmental crisis. When the use of oil and coal goes up,
>pollution goes up. When the use of solar, wind and geothermal
>increases, pollution comes down.
>
> ...I for one do not believe our country can withstand 10 more
>years of the status quo. Our families cannot stand 10 more years of
>gas price increases. Our workers cannot stand 10 more years of job
>losses and outsourcing of factories. Our economy cannot stand 10 more
>years of sending $2 billion every 24 hours to foreign countries for
>oil. And our soldiers and their families cannot take another 10 years
>of repeated troop deployments to dangerous regions that just happen to
>have large oil supplies.
>
> What could we do instead for the next 10 years? What should we do
>during the next 10 years? Some of our greatest accomplishments as a
>nation have resulted from commitments to reach a goal that fell well
>beyond the next election: the Marshall Plan, Social Security, the
>interstate highway system. But a political promise to do something 40
>years from now is universally ignored because everyone knows that it=92s
>meaningless. Ten years is about the maximum time that we as a nation
>can hold a steady aim and hit our target.
>
>Reaching the goal of 100% zero-carbon electricity in 10 years faces a
>number of obstacles, Gore noted, including the lack of a unified
>national grid sufficiently advanced to link areas with good potential
>for wind and solar power generation to the rest of the country.
>
> Our national electric grid is critical infrastructure, as vital to
>the health and security of our economy as our highways and
>telecommunication networks. Today, our grids are antiquated, fragile,
>and vulnerable to cascading failure. Power outages and defects in the
>current grid system cost US businesses more than $120 billion dollars
>a year. It has to be upgraded anyway.
>
> ...We are on the eve of a presidential election. We are in the
>midst of an international climate treaty process that will conclude
>its work before the end of the first year of the new president=92s term.
>It is a great error to say that the United States must wait for others
>to join us in this matter. In fact, we must move first, because that
>is the key to getting others to follow; and because moving first is in
>our own national interest. So I ask you to join with me to call on
>every candidate, at every level, to accept this challenge=97for America
>to be running on 100 percent zero-carbon electricity in 10 years. It'=92
>time for us to move beyond empty rhetoric. We need to act now.
--
What do you call a Republican with a conscience?
An ex-Republican.
http://www.balloon-juice.com/?p=8827 (From Yang, AthD (h.c)
"Prosperity and peace are in the balance," -- Putsch, not admitting that he's
against both
Putsch: leading America to asymetric warfare since 2001
Not dead, in jail, or a slave? Thank a liberal!
Pay your taxes so the rich don't have to.
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