SAN FRANCISCO — In his State of the Union address Tuesday (Jan. 31), U.S. President George Bush unveiled an advanced energy initiative with an aggressive goal of replacing 75 percent of U.S. oil imports from the Middle East by 2025.
The broad Advanced Energy Initiative would boost funding for coal, hybrid, nuclear, solar and wind technologies.
Bush proposed a 22 percent budget increase for Department of Energy "clean-energy research" to push for breakthroughs in the way Americans power homes, offices and automobiles.
"America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world," Bush said. "The best way to break this addiction is through technology."
Bush said the U.S. has spent nearly $10 billion to develop cleaner, cheaper and more reliable alternative energy since 2001. "We are on the threshold of incredible advances," he said.
Specific areas of research outlined by Bush included clean coal technologies, solar power, wind energy, vehicle efficiency, hydrogen fuel and a biorefinery initiative to study advanced technologies for making renewable ethanol fuel from plant fiber. Bush also referenced "clean, safe nuclear energy" as part of the energy solution.
"By applying the talent and technology of America," Bush said, "this country can dramatically improve our environment, move beyond a petroleum-based economy and make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past."
Also Tuesday, as expected, Bush outlined a competitiveness initiative — an increase in federal investment in critical research, including the goal of providing American children with a strong foundation in math and science. Under that initiative, Bush proposed doubling the U.S. government's commitment to "the most critical basic research programs in the physical sciences" over the next decade. He also proposed making permanent the federal government's R&D tax credit.
"With more research in both the public and private sectors," Bush said, "we will improve our quality of life and ensure that America will lead the world in opportunity and innovation for decades to come."
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