Re: Aren't you forgetting that we spent massive amounts on alternative energy sources before and little resulted from it?
That is factually incorrect. At the start of the Clinton era, wind power was capable of generating a Kwh at an amortized cost of 50 cents. Due to DoE research, grants to private researchers and industry initiatives, that cost has come down one order of magnitude to about five cents per Kwh, making windpower today a viable alternative to oil, gas or coal fired electrical generation, when all costs are considered. This is a remarkable feat of engineering and technological advance. It would not have occurred nearly as rapidly without direct government subsidy of the research.
What the Bush team is trying to do is to slow down this sort of research into fuel cells, solar power and other alternative means. They offer happy talk about supporting this sort of reasearch, but it is deeply cynical. For instance, when they recently announced that they were supporting the hydogen powered vehicle, what they didn't tell you in the fine print was that they were suspending any efffort whatsoever to modify CAFE standards, or to encourage American manufacturers to emulate Toyota's Prius hybrid vehicle, a vastly more promising technology that hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicles. It was an utterly cynical effort to hide the fact that they were actually opposing progress toward a more rational vehicle fleet in this country.
-Ray |
