Bush Looks to Technology to Fix US Oil Addiction

President George “LBJ” Bush claims Christianity as his personal faith. Miracles figure heavily in Christianity, and that may be where Mr. Bush gets his energy policy. In laying out his new plans for American energy, he said that technological breakthroughs offer “a chance to transform the way we power our economy, and the way we lead our lives.” The nuts and bolts of what can be done today seem to elude him.

However, for a former dealer in oil, a man who used to provide America with its fix of petroleum, Mr. Bush seems to have at last realized that the problem of America’s oil addiction (his words!) cannot be solved with more drilling for crude. It requires greater conservation as well as technological change, ideally giving up oil altogether. After all, humans make a lot of stuff out of oil other than gasoline. As the late Shah of Iran used to say, “Oil is too valuable to burn.”

Yet, hydrogen is not plausible at this stage, solar has been under funded for decades, wind power is not taken seriously, and Detroit has only latched onto hybrid cars in recent months (while the Japanese have been at it for a decade). Indeed, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, lost millions in funding which led to 32 workers, including eight researchers, losing their jobs two weeks ago. Fortunately, someone realized it would be embarrassing for the president to speak there yesterday unless some money appeared – and abracadabra, $5 million turned up over the week-end.

As laudable as spending for basic research is (perhaps the best governmental mission after national defense), there are a few things Mr. Bush could do to make waiting for the miracle less painful. Raising the corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards for US cars would help; China’s fleet of cars and trucks now gets better gas mileage than America’s, which should wound national pride if nothing else. Mr. Bush doesn’t want the government telling Detroit how to make cars though. Mr. Bush, Harvard MBA that he is, should know that markets are incredibly short-sighted, usually focused on the end of the quarter, not the end of the quarter century.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported yesterday, “Evergreen Solar Inc. a US maker of solar power products, said on Tuesday it had entered into a four-year supply contract worth $100 million with Germany's SAG Solarstrom AG. Under the agreement, Evergreen Solar will ship about $100 million of photovoltaic modules to SAG over the next four years that will be manufactured at its plant in Massachusetts and its new 30-megawatt facility in Thalheim, Germany.” Solar power is free once the capital expenditure of building the plant is made (and some maintenance). The fuel source is sunshine – what a miracle. Mr. Bush, where are the American solar plants?

Editor’s Note: The Kensington Review wishes to express its gratitude to Daniel Finkelstein of The Times for his original article on this bill as well as his assistance in tracking down the report on the web.

The Danish flag appears here as a protest against the violence being done to the free press of that country and elsewhere by those offended by some cartoons of the Prophet Muhammed, peace be unto him. A perceived insult is not an excuse for intimidation and violence, even in the name of the Creator. One cannot insult God, only small-minded men who falsely claim to speak for Him. © Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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