[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book I)]
[March 5, 2008]
[Pages 317-324]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks at the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference
March 5, 2008
Thank you all. Thank you for the warm welcome. Thanks for coming.
It's my honor to be here. I'm proud to address the Washington
International Renewable Energy Conference. Thankfully, you only left it
for five words. [Laughter.] I appreciate your commitment to renewable
energy. I probably didn't help today when I rode over in a 20-car
motorcade. [Laughter.]
I appreciate the fact that--I hope you understand that you're
pioneers on the frontiers of change; that I fully suspect that this
conference will seem unbelievably outdated within a decade; that people
will marvel about how far technology has helped change our habits and
change the world. And I hope you take great pride in being a part of
this constructive change. And so thanks for coming to America. We
welcome you here.
To my fellow citizens, thanks for being entrepreneurs and forward
thinkers. To members of my administration, like Sam Bodman, who just introduced me, or Ed Schafer, the head of the Agriculture Department, or Steve
Johnson, EPA, thank you all for serving
our country. Thanks for your kind words, Sam. I appreciate all the
others who are here from my administration.
Mike Eckhart is the president of the
American Council on Renewable Energy. He and I went to Harvard together.
I don't know if he is--has had to spend time overcoming that, but I
certainly have and--[laughter]--particularly in Texas politics. But it's
good to be with my friend Mike. I can assure you that when we were at
Harvard Business School together, he never envisioned that we would be
in our respective positions, like we are today. As a matter of fact, I
know in 1975, he never even thought about the word ``renewable fuel,''
much less ``President George W. Bush.''
I welcome the Ambassadors who are here. I welcome--listen, let me
start first by telling you that America has got to change its habits.
We've got to get off oil. And the reason why is, first, oil is--
dependency on oil presents a real challenge to our economy. As economies
grow--and we want all our economies to grow; we want people to be
prosperous. We want people who are living in poverty to be able to grow
out of poverty. We want there to be general prosperity. But as economies
grow, until we change our habits, there is going to be more dependency
on oil.
My job, as the President of the country, is to put progrowth
policies in place. But we're dependent upon oil, and so as our economy
grows, it's going to create more demand for oil--same with China, same
with India, same with other growing countries. And it should be obvious
to you all that the demand is outstripping supply, which causes prices
to go up. And it's making it harder here in America for working families
to save and for farmers to be prosperous and for small businesses to
grow.
The dependency upon oil also puts us at the mercy of terrorists. If
there's tight supply and demand, all it requires is one terrorist
disruption of oil and that price goes even higher. It's in our interests
to end our dependency on oil because it--that dependency presents a
challenge to our national security. In 1985, 20 percent of America's oil
came from abroad. Today, that number is nearly 60 percent.
Now, all the countries we import from are friendly, stable
countries, but some countries we get oil from don't particularly like
us. They don't like the form of government that we embrace. They don't
believe in the same freedoms we believe in. And that's a problem from a
national security perspective for the United States and any
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other nation that values its economic sovereignty and national
sovereignty.
And finally, our dependence on fossil fuels like oil presents a
challenge to our environment. When we burn fossil fuels, we release
greenhouse gases. The concentration of greenhouse gases has increased
substantially.
We recognize all three of these challenges, and we're doing
something about it. I've come today to tell you that America is the kind
of country that when they see a problem, we address it head on. I've set
a great goal for our country, and that is to reduce our dependence on
oil by investing in technologies that will produce abundant supplies of
clean and renewable energy and, at the same time, show the world that
we're good stewards of the environment.
Now, look, I understand stereotypes are hard to defeat. People get
an image planted in their head, and sometimes it causes them not to
listen to the facts. But America is in the lead when it comes to energy
independence, we're in the lead when it comes to new technologies, we're
in the lead when it comes to global climate change, and we'll stay that
way.
Overall, over the past 7 years, or since I've been the President,
the Federal Government spent more than $12 billion to research, develop,
and promote alternative energy sources. Our private sector is investing
a lot of money, and I fully understand there needs to be consistent
policy out of the U.S. Government that has thus far provided incentives
to invest. What the Government doesn't need to do is send mixed signals.
I understand private capital, understand how it flows. And so when
people look at the United States to determine whether we're committed to
new technologies that will change how we live, they not only need to
look at the Federal investment, but they've got to understand, there's a
lot of smart money heading into the private sector to help develop these
new technologies.
Our strategy is twofold: One, we're going to change the way we drive
our cars; and two, we'll change the way we power our businesses and
homes. In other words, the two most vulnerable areas to economic
disruption happens to be automobile use and electric power. The two
biggest opportunities to help change the environment is through how we
drive our cars and how we power our country. So first, let me talk about
automobiles.
I laid out a goal for the United States to reduce gasoline
consumption by 20 percent over the next 10 years; that's called 20-10.
Now, by the way, that's in the face of a growing economy, to reduce
gasoline usage by 20 percent over 10 years.
And we'll work with Congress. For those of you who watch the
American legislative process, you think it's probably impossible for the
American President to work with Congress these days. Well, it's not
true. I was able to sign a good piece of legislation called the Energy
Independence and Security Act of 2007. This legislation specifies a
national mandatory fuel economy standard of 35 miles per gallon by 2020,
which will save billions of gallons of gasoline.
Secondly, the legislation requires fuel producers to supply at least
36 billion gallons of renewable fuel in the year 2022. In other words,
these just aren't goals; these are mandatory requirements. I'm confident
the United States can meet those goals, and I know we must for the sake
of economic security, national security, and for the sake of being good
stewards of the environment.
Biodiesel is the most promising of these fuels. Biodiesel refineries
can produce fuel from soybeans and vegetable oils and recycled cooking
grease, from waste materials. All you out there with waste, you may be
in business before you know it as this new technology kicks in. Most
Americans--or more Americans are beginning to realize the benefits of
biodiesel every year.
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Last year, we produced 450 million gallons of biodiesel. That's up
80 percent from 2006. Today, there are more than 650 biodiesel fueling
stations in America. There are hundreds of fleet operators that use
biodiesel to fuel their trucks, and that's just the beginning of what is
going to be a substantial change in our driving habits.
And then there's ethanol. In the 2000 campaign, I strongly supported
ethanol. In 2008, it's amazing to think about how far our country has
come since the year 2000. Ethanol production has quadrupled from 1.6
billion gallons in 2000 to a little over 6.4 billion gallons in 2007.
And the vast majority of that ethanol is coming from corn, and
that's good. That's good if you're a corn grower. And it's good if
you're worried about national security. I'd rather have our corn farmers
growing energy than relying upon some nation overseas that may not like
us. That's how I view it.
In 2005, the United States became the world's leading ethanol
producer. Last year, we accounted for nearly half of the worldwide
ethanol production. I don't know if our fellow citizens understand that,
but there is a substantial change taking place, primarily in the Midwest
of our country.
Corn ethanol holds a lot of promise, but there's a lot of
challenges. If you're a hog raiser in the United States, you're
beginning to worry about the cost of corn to feed your animals. I'm
beginning to hear complaints from our cattlemen about the high price of
corn. The high price of corn is beginning to affect the price of food.
And so we got to do something about it. And the best thing to do is
not to retreat from our commitment to alternative fuels but to spend
research and development money on alternatives to ethanol made from
other materials. For example, cellulosic ethanol holds a lot of promise.
I'm sure there are people in the industry here that will tell you how
far the industry has come in a very quick period of time.
I look forward to the day when Texas ranchers can grow switchgrass
on their country and then have that switchgrass be converted to fuel. I
look forward to the day when people in the parts of our country that
have got a lot of forests are able to convert wood chips into fuel. And
those days are coming.
The Department of Energy had dedicated nearly $1 billion to develop
technologies that can make cellulosic ethanol cost competitive. And the
interesting thing that's happened in a relatively quick period of time
is that the projected cost of cellulosic ethanol has dropped by more
than 60 percent. In other words, new technologies are coming. The job of
the Federal Government is to expedite their arrival.
Expanding the use in ethanol and biodiesel requires getting more
cars on the road that use these alternative fuels. Now, we expect the
private sector to respond. Our consumers are going to demand flex-fuel
vehicles when they find out that these new technologies are available.
As a matter of fact, there's 5 million flex-fuel vehicles on our roads
now. I just saw some new ones here. Amazing joint venture with Mack and
Volvo on these giant trucks that are using biodiesel to power them. I
said, can you make it more than a couple of miles? The man said, ``Not
only we can make it more than a couple of miles, we can accelerate out
of danger if we need to.''
Technology is changing. Five years ago, those trucks would not have
been available for people at this exhibit to look at. Today, they're on
the road. As a matter of fact, the United States Air Force is using
these kinds of trucks. Things are changing.
Another way to reduce our dependence on oil is promote hybrid
vehicles. We're providing tax incentives to people to buy these fuel-
efficient vehicles. In other words, the Government is saying, if you buy
one, we'll give you a little incentive to do so. I've supported those
policies. I think it
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makes sense to create a consumerism for these kinds of vehicles.
When I was first elected, there were virtually no hybrids on the
roads. Today, there is nearly a million. We're also investing in plug-in
hybrids. We want our city people driving not on gasoline but on
electricity. And the goal, the short-term goal is to have vehicles that
are capable of driving the first 40 miles on electricity--vehicles that
don't look like a golf cart, by the way--vehicles that meet consumer
demand. And that day is coming. The battery technologies are amazing,
and the United States is investing millions of dollars to hasten the
day. The battery technology is more efficient and competitive.
This administration is a strong supporter of hydrogen. We spent
about $1.2 billion in research and development to bring vehicles running
on hydrogen to the market. A lot of people don't even know what I'm
talking about when I'm talking about hydrogen. But the waste product of
a hydrogen-powered vehicle is pure and clean water.
This is an amazing opportunity for us. Now, this will be a long-term
opportunity compared to ethanol and biodiesel and plug-in hybrids. But
it makes sense to invest now and work on the technology so that when it
comes--becomes cost competitive, it's available. We're also working for
the day when, you know, these new fuels power not only automobiles and
trucks but airplanes.
In December, the United States Air Force flew a C-17--that's a huge
airplane--from Washington State to New Jersey. For those of you who
don't live in America, that is a long way. And they did so on a blend of
regular and synthetic fuels. I was interested to see that Virgin
Atlantic flew a 747 from London's Heathrow Airport to Amsterdam fueled
partly by coconuts and Brazilian babassu nuts. I've never seen a babassu
nut, but it's amazing that it helped power an airplane the size of a
747. [Laughter]
What I've just described to you is the beginning of a new era. And
oh, it's probably hard to equate it to the Model T, but maybe we're not
that far off. And the United States believes it's in our interests to
promote this new era.
Secondly, we've got to reduce our dependence on oil and fossil fuels
and replace them with alternative energy sources to power our homes and
our workplaces. Look, you can't have a vibrant economy unless you've got
reliable electricity. For those of you in the developing world, you know
what I'm talking about. As a matter of fact, the issue is not reliable
electricity; the issue is getting electricity to people in the first
place. Well, here in the United States, we've overcome those issues. And
now we've got to make sure that we have enough of it that enables us to
continue to grow. And the truth of the matter is, you've got to be--have
a growing economy to be able to afford these technologies in the first
place. So here are some ways that we're dealing with the issue of
electricity.
One, I strongly believe the United States must promote nuclear power
here in the United States. Nuclear power--[applause]--if you're
interested in economic growth and environmental stewardship, there's no
better way to achieve both of them than through the promotion of nuclear
power. Nuclear power is limitless. It's one existing source that
generates a massive amount of electricity without causing any air
pollution or any greenhouse gases.
And yet the United States, we haven't built any nuclear power plants
in a long time. What a promising technology available, and yet we're
stuck, until recently. All of our citizens probably don't understand,
but France, our ally and friend, gets nearly 80 percent of its power
from nuclear power. Isn't that an amazing statistic? It's time for
America to change.
My administration is working to eliminate the barriers to
development of nuclear power plants. Last year, we invested more
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than $300 million in nuclear energy technologies. We want our people to
understand that this generation of nuclear power plants is safe. We want
people to feel comfortable about the expansion of nuclear power.
There's regulatory uncertainty when it comes to permitting plants in
the United States. You can't expect somebody to invest a lot of money
and have the regulatory process at the very end stop that capital from
being deployed. It makes no sense. Just like tax policy has to be
certain, so does regulatory policy have to create a sense of certainty
in order to get people to invest.
So in the energy bill I signed in 2005, we began to address that
uncertainty with Federal risk insurance for those who build nuclear
power plants. This insurance protects the builders of the first six new
plants against lawsuits--we got a lot of them in America, by the way,
too many lawsuits, in my judgment--against bureaucratic obstacles and
against delays beyond the--that would cause people to hesitate to
participate in this program.
We've also launched a program called Nuclear Power 2010. Sam
Bodman is in charge of all these. It's a
partnership between our industry and the U.S. Government. Since we've
started these programs, we've received six applications to build and
operate new nuclear power plants in the United States. The paradigm is
beginning to shift. And we anticipate that another 13 applications will
be submitted this year.
Many of the construction projects will be supported by $18.5 billion
in loan guarantees provided by the Government. By the way, that's part
of a loan guarantee product--projects that we got out of Congress--18
billion for the nukes, 10 billion for renewable energy expansions in the
United States. This will enable our plant owners, guys that are applying
for loans--[laughter]--the whole purpose is, is we want to expand our
nuclear power industry. And we're taking specific actions to do it.
You know, there's a lot of politicians who just talk. I hope when
history is written of this administration, we not only talked; we
actually did positive things and constructive things.
We're also working with our friends overseas for the Global Nuclear
Energy Partnership. I believe developing nations ought to be encouraged
to use nuclear power. I believe it's in our interests. I believe it will
help take pressure off the price of oil. And I know it's going to help
protect the environment. And so we're working with other nations, like
Japan and France and Great Britain and Russia and China, to form this
energy partnership, the purpose of which is to help developing nations
secure cost-effective and proliferation-resistant nuclear power and, at
the same time, to conduct joint research on how to deal with the nuclear
waste issue through positive, productive reprocessing.
And so the United States of America has got a strategy to help
change our electricity mix here at home. And part of that strategy is on
nuclear power. Another part of that strategy is based upon wind power.
Now, since 2001, America has increased wind energy production by more
than 300 percent. This is a new industry for us, and it's beginning to
grow. More than 20 percent of new electrical generating capacity added
in America came from wind last year. I met some of the wind boys.
They're excited about the opportunities in the U.S. market, and they
should be because this new technology is taking hold. Last year, America
installed more wind power capacity than any other country in the world.
I don't know if you know this or not: When I was the Governor of
Texas, I signed a electric deregulation bill that encouraged and
mandated the use of renewable energy. Today, Texas is--produces more
wind energy than any other State in the Union. If an oil State can
produce wind energy, other States in America can produce wind energy. I
remember when I signed the bill, I said, ``There's a new
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day coming for wind.'' And they said, ``Well, you're leaving the State,
and a lot of hot air is going with it.'' [Laughter]
In addition to wind power, we have spent, since I've been the
President, $1 billion on harnessing the power of the Sun. The solar
technology folks who are here will tell you there's some amazing changes
have taken place in a quick period of time. I mean, I really see a day
in which each house can be a little electric generator of their own and
feeding back excess power into the grid through the use of solar power.
I told you that we're--and by the way, last year, U.S. solar
installations grew by more than 32 percent in the U.S. In other words, I
hope you're excited by these statistics. I certainly am. But these are
just the beginning. Before I came over here, I really did sit around the
Oval Office trying to figure out what a President will be saying 10
years from now. If you really think about what would have been said in
2000 compared to today, imagine what's going to be said 10 years from
now compared to today.
I will repeat something I've been saying a lot here in America: The
United States is serious about confronting climate change. And the
strategies I just laid out for you are an integral part of dealing with
climate change. Should there be an international agreement? Yes, there
should be, and we support it. But I would remind you, an agreement will
be effective, and that's what we want; we want an effective agreement. I
think we ought to be results-oriented people, not process people. It's
one thing to have a nice conference, but out of those conferences, we
should expect results. We want a strategy that works, not sounds good.
And so in order for there to be effective international agreements,
it must include--these agreements must include commitments--solid
commitments--by every major economy, and no country should get a free
ride.
And meeting this goal is going to take some tough choices. I've got
a good man named Dan Price on my staff who
is leading the U.S. efforts on the major economies conferences that
we're hosting. That's, by the way, running parallel to the U.N. process.
This is not in lieu of the U.N. process; it is to enable the U.N.
process to become effective.
The first step is to get the major economies to agree to a goal. If
you want commitment, if you want all folks at the table, the first step
has got to be to say, we've got a problem, and here's a goal. I believe
in setting clear goals, goals that are easy to understand.
And then it's up to us, each nation, to develop a strategy to help
meet those goals. We've got different economies. We've got different
electricity mixes. What I've just described to you is a strategy to deal
with energy in--dependence as well as climate change. It'll be different
from country to country. We've got a different energy mix than a lot of
nations do.
And we expect countries that sign up to that goal to develop a
strategy to meet that goal. And the United States will do the same
thing, see. We're not going to say, okay, you set the goal, and you meet
it, but we're not going to join. Once we join, we join. And so you're
watching a process unfold to make sure that we have an effective
international agreement.
And I fully understand--and by the way, I want to repeat what I said
before: An effective agreement is one that recognizes that economies got
to grow in order to be able to afford investment in the first place,
that you must have economic wealth in order to be able to afford the
research and development.
This is an issue that requires substantial commitments of money. And
it's hard to commit money if you don't have any, and it's hard to commit
money if your economies are hurting. So we ought to make sure we grow
our economies and, at the same time, have the money necessary to
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invest. And I fully understand some nations are incapable of affording
these new technologies.
And here's what we intend to do about it. There ought to be an
international fund, a clean technology fund from the wealthy nations to
help poorer nations clean up their environments. I call on our Congress
to commit $2 billion to the fund. And in my travels here in my last year
of the Presidency, I'm going to call on other wealthy nations to
contribute to this fund.
I want any agreement to be effective. I don't want us just to feel
good. I want to be able to say, when it's all said and done, we've done
something that's actually going to solve the problem. And if people are
truly interested in solving the problem, if you're interested in
expanding alternative energy, then we need to come together to eliminate
tariffs and other trade barriers to enable clean technologies to move
duty free around the world.
There's too many impediments. There's too much protectionism. I
mean, if you're truly interested in solving global climate change, then
you should insist to your leaders to join the United States and other
countries to make it easier to move these products, to eliminate all
barriers to trade and technologies that will enable us to be better
stewards of the environment.
So here's the strategy to deal with climate change and energy
dependence. The United States not only is pursuing this strategy on an
international basis, we're also have got bilateral partnerships. With
Brazil, for example, we signed a biofuels compact. We signed agreements
with China to expand cooperation on biomass and to improve energy
efficiencies for vehicles and industrial production. We're working with
Sweden--the Deputy Prime Minister is here, and I'm honored you are
here--on a very constructive relationship. There's a U.S. company
working with United Kingdom's Wave Hub to harness the power of the seas.
This is an ambitious vision I've just described to you. And
obviously, you support something ambitious being done; otherwise, you
wouldn't be here at this conference. I hope you're excited when you see
the exhibits. Just keep in mind how far we have come in a short period
of time, and be hopeful about how far we will go in a short period of
time.
There was an article in the New York Sun not long after Alexander
Bell's famous phone call, his first phone call to a fellow named Thomas
Watson. I would like to read to you from that article: ``It is to be
doubted if the telephone will be used otherwise than locally. It's too
sensitive for circuits exceeding a few miles in length.'' Imagine if
that author of that article were alive today. I suspect he would have
been sorry he used the words ``it should be doubted.'' After all, he'd
see a world where crystal-clear telephone calls are placed over circuits
that stretch not miles, but across the globe. He would see a wireless
infrastructure developing around the world.
Same thing is going to happen when it comes to energy. Oh, I know
there's doubters, but I'm confident that when we look back at this
period of time, they will say, how could you have doubted the capacity
of mankind to develop the technologies necessary to deal with the real
problems of the 21st century?
Leave with one thing in mind: The United States is committed, and
we're firm in our commitments to deal with energy problems and to deal
with global climate change. And it's been my honor to be with you today.
May God bless you.
Note: The President spoke at 10:13 a.m. at the Washington Convention
Center. In his remarks, he referred to Deputy Prime Minister Maud
Olofsson of Sweden. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a
Spanish language transcript of these remarks.
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