Former Vice President Al Gore Thursday challenged the nation to produce all of its electricity through renewable resources within 10 years, a goal that he said he wanted the next president to embrace.

Gore’s call echoed those by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a bipartisan group of energy officials and industry leaders, which this week urged the next president and Congress to set a strategic long-term energy policy for the United States (see related story).

“I don’t remember a time in our country when so many things seemed to be going so wrong simultaneously,” Gore told an audience at Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. “Our economy is in terrible shape and getting worse; gasoline prices are increasing dramatically and so are electricity rates. Jobs are being outsourced. Home mortgages are in trouble. Banks, automobile companies and other institutions we depend upon are under growing pressure. Distinguished senior business leaders are telling us that this is just the beginning unless we find the courage to make some major changes quickly. The climate crisis, in particular, is getting a lot worse — much more quickly than predicted.”

Presumptive presidential nominees Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, and Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain both are “way ahead of most politicians in understanding global climate change,” Gore told the audience. However, U.S. dependence on foreign oil has created “a new political environment” that requires major steps to wean the country from fossil fuels.

When all of the “intractable challenges” are viewed at the same time, “we can see the common thread running through them, deeply ironic in its simplicity: our dangerous over-reliance on carbon-based fuels is at the core of all three of these challenges — the economic, environmental and national security crises,” he said. “We’re borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that’s got to change. But if we grab hold of that common thread and pull it hard, all of these complex problems begin to unravel and we will find that we’re holding the answer to all of them right in our hand. The answer is to end our reliance on carbon-based fuels.”

Earlier this month Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens unveiled the “Pickens Plan,” which also calls for the United States to end its reliance on foreign oil supplies. At the recent Rocky Mountain Energy Epicenter in Denver, Pickens said he had spent “more than an hour” earlier this month speaking with Gore about U.S. energy independence (see Daily GPI, July 11).

However, following the speech Pickens criticized Gore’s plan and said that while Pickens’ plan centered on renewables and natural gas, Gore’s would not end U.S. reliance on foreign oil.

“My plan is aimed squarely at breaking the stranglehold that foreign oil has on our country and the $700 billion annual impact it has on our economy,” Pickens said. “We import 70% of our oil and that number is growing larger every year. Vice President Gore’s plan does not address this enormous problem, it is clear that he and I have two different objectives and our plans should be viewed with that in mind.” Of Gore’s plan, Pickens asked, “Will it slash oil imports by at least 30% in 10 years? Does it rely 100% on domestic energy resources? Does it rely on existing and proven technologies? Can it be on line within 10 years? Can it be done by private investment?”

The Alliance for Climate Protection, a bipartisan group led by Gore, estimated that the cost to transform the United States to “clean” electricity sources would be $1.5-3 trillion over 30 years in public and private money. Gore noted that it would cost nearly as much to build more fossil fuel power plants to meet current U.S. demand.

“This is an investment that will pay itself back many times over. It’s an expensive investment but not compared to the rising cost of continuing to invest in fossil fuels,” Gore said.

“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,” he said. “When demand for oil and coal increases, their price goes up. When demand for solar cells increases, the price often comes down.

When we send money to foreign countries to buy nearly 70% of the oil we use every day, they build new skyscrapers and we lose jobs. When we spend that money building solar arrays and windmills, we build competitive industries and gain jobs here at home.”

Gore compared the challenge to move to renewables within 10 years to President John Kennedy’s pledge in 1961 to land a man on the moon by the end of that decade.

To meet the 10-year goal, nuclear energy output would continue at current levels, but there would be dramatic increases in the use of solar, wind, geothermal and clean coal energy. Investments also would be required in technologies to reduce energy waste and link existing power grids.

While electricity production is only part of the nation’s energy and climate change problem, Gore said, “If we meet this challenge we will solve the rest of it.”

For a full copy of Gore’s speech, visit www.wecansolveit.org.

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