Recent developments compel us to spotlight the dopiness of President George W. Bush.
In his 2006 State of the Union address Bush said:
Here we have a serious problem: America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world.
Tonight, I announce the Advanced Energy Initiative — a 22 percent increase in clean energy research at the Department of Energy, to push for breakthroughs in two vital areas.
To change how we power our homes and offices, we will invest more in zero-emission, coal-fired plants; revolutionary solar and wind technologies; and clean, safe nuclear energy.
We will increase our research in better batteries for hybrid and electric cars, and in pollution-free cars that run on hydrogen. We will also fund additional research in cutting-edge methods of producing ethanol, not just from corn but from wood chips, stalks,or switch grass.
Consider the following:
- New technology has overcome peak oil fears.
- “Wood chips, stalks, switch grass” (i.e,. cellulosic ethanol) is not coming online anytime soon.
- Solyndra has pretty much exposed and throttled the folly of “clean energy research at the Department of Energy.”
- The Fukushima disaster has very much delayed if not killed any hopes for a “nuclear renaissance”.
- Hybrid and electric vehicle sales are fading and going nowhere, respectively.
- Hydrogen cars are nowhere on the horizon.
- Zero-emission coal plants aren’t happening anywhere.
- Solar and wind remain alive only because of subsidies and mandates.
Other than Obama, no president has ever been as wrong on energy as Bush.
I don’t know. It’s hard to imagine that Carter was BTO.
The Dept. of Energy was created by Carter to make the USA energy independent…The DOE needs to be abolished along with the EPA and half a dozen other agencies…
I remember hearing that speech in 2006 and the first thing that came to my mind is George Bush had visited the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, CO and been given a snow job by the people working there.
I have visited NREL and I believe this is an advocacy organization and not a research organization. It probably should be closed. A few years ago a Spanish professor published a study showing solar energy in Spain cost 2.9 jobs for every job solar energy produced. The American Solar Energy Association went to NREL and asked them to refute this study. They refuted the study.
Bush got poor energy advice during his entire administration leaving us headed to the disaster that President Obama is fullfilling.
Not tue. Carter said we would be out of oil by now.