Bush calls for end to US 'oil addiction'
Thu 02 February 2006
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In his annual State of the Union address at the end of January, President Bush called on America to end its 'oil addiction' and announced large funding increases for research and development into low carbon transport fuel alternatives. The President singled out ethanol as a particularly promising alternative fuel technology.
The primary motivation for reducing reliance on oil, according to the President, is to end America's dependence on oil which is often imported from unstable parts of the world.
The President announced the Advanced Energy Initiative, which includes a 22 percent increase in the Department of Energy's budget for clean energy research.
Bush said: "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."
The President said that his aim is to make this new kind of ethanol practical and competitive within six years.
Bush also called for a federal education initiative "to double the federal commitment to the most critical basic research programs in the physical sciences over the next 10 years."
Related Links
CNN news link
State of the Union address - full text
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