Times of India , Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Correspondent : Staff Reporter

WASHINGTON: The United States will commit $2 billion over the next three years to a new international fund to promote clean energy technologies and fight climate change, President George W Bush told Congress on Monday in his annual State of the Union speech. "Let us create a new international clean technology fund, which will help developing nations like India and China make greater use of clean energy sources," Bush said. He said the United States is committed to working with major economies and the United Nations to complete an international agreement that "has the potential to slow, stop and eventually reverse the growth of greenhouse gases." "This agreement will be effective only if it includes commitments by every major economy and gives none a free ride," Bush said. "The United States is committed to strengthening our energy security and confronting global climate change." Delegates from the biggest greenhouse gas-polluting countries will meet this week in Hawaii to spur UN negotiations for an international climate agreement by 2009 that would replace the current carbon-capping Kyoto Protocol expiring in 2012. The Bush administration rejects the Kyoto plan, saying it unfairly exempts developing countries from cutting their emissions and could hurt the U.S. economy. Bush favors voluntary measures and "aspirational goals" to limit climate change. On energy issues, Bush once again called for the United States to cut "our dependence" on oil, which earlier this month hit a record $100.09 a barrel, by developing new sources of energy. "To build a future of energy security, we must trust in the creative genius of American researchers and entrepreneurs and empower them to pioneer a new generation of clean energy technology. Our security, our prosperity and our environment all require reducing our dependence on oil," Bush said. He said the United States needs to generate more of its electricity from clean coal, solar and wind energy and nuclear power. He also called for more investment in developing advanced batteries and renewable fuels that will run future cars and trucks. However, Bush is not giving up on oil altogether. The White House said the administration wants Congress to pass legislation that would open to drilling more offshore US waters and parts of Alaska where energy exploration is now banned. Bush also wants Congress to approve doubling the size of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which can now hold about 727 million barrels of emergency oil supplies at four underground storage sites in Texas and Louisiana. Unlike last year's State of the Union message, there was little in Bush's speech this year calling for a major overhaul of US energy policy. That's because Congress passed a comprehensive energy bill that Bush signed into law in December that increases vehicle fuel efficiency for the first time in over three decades, significantly boosts ethanol use, makes appliances more energy efficient and phases out the traditional light bulb.

SOURCE : Times of India, Tuesday, January 29, 2008