In his state of the union address on tuesday evening, President George W. Bush emphasized the need to reduce America’s reliance on oil. Unlike his predecessors Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon, both of whom made similar appeals, Bush didnt merely stress the need to reduce reliance on foreign oil, he stressed the need to reduce oil use period. In his own words, he told Americans they need to “move beyond a petroleum-based economy”. He is aiming for a 75% reduction in oil imports from the Middle East by 2025, which now account for about 17% of the oil consumed in the U.S.. Part of this plan involves an increase in financing for clean energy technology by 22%. His new budget proposal for October 2006 involves $289 million spent on hydrogen technology, as opposed to $53 million this year, $44 million for wind, up from $5 million this year, and $150 million for ethanol from cellulose, up from $59 million this year. Currently, renewable energy accounts for 6% of U.S. energy consumption. A notable omission from the speech was that the President made no mention of increasing fuel efficiency standards for cars.
but don’t worry, no american will have to sacrifice their overuse of automobiles and energy in general to breaking this “national energy addiction”. It will all be possible through technology…thank goodness we have technology to save us! Hmmm…I remember something about that being a mildly problematic solution….