Gore challenges US to 100% renewable energy
Al Gore wants Americans to only use renewable energy by 2018
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Friday, 18, Jul 2008 12:17
Former US vice president Al Gore has challenged the American public to produce all of its electricity from renewable sources within ten years.
In a speech in Washington DC, the Nobel Laureate said greater use of renewable and carbon-free sources would help to solve the "present danger" of the problems of energy supply, climate change and economic downturn in the US.
He warned that the climate crisis is getting "a lot worse much more quickly than predicted"; the economy is in "terrible shape"; and fuel prices are increasingly "dramatically".
"When we look at all three of these seemingly intractable challenges 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," Mr Gore said.
"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."
Mr Gore claimed that solar power could provide all the electricity America uses and that "enough wind power blows through the Midwest corridor every day to also meet 100 per cent of US electricity demand".
He admitted that "many obstacles" need to be overcome to meet the ten-year challenge, including improving the US national grid and ensuring jobs are available for "those who have toiled in dangerous conditions to bring us our present energy supply".
"We must now lift our nation to reach [a] goal that will change history," Mr Gore challenged.
"Our entire civilisation depends upon us now embarking on a new journey of exploration and discovery. Our success depends on our willingness as a people to undertake this journey and to complete it within ten years."