U.S. President George W. Bush said on Wednesday that the United States must strongly push forward the development of renewable energy sources in order to reduce its dependence on foreign oil.
"America has got to change its habits. We've got to get off oil," said Bush when he addressed the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC).
"Dependency on oil presents a real challenge to our economy," said Bush. It also presents a challenge to the national security of the United States. In 1985, 20 percent of America's oil came from abroad. "Today that number is nearly 60 percent."
Moreover, dependency on fossil fuels like oil presents a challenge to the environment. "When we burn fossil fuels we release greenhouse gases. The concentration of greenhouse gases has increased substantially," he added.
Bush said that the United States recognized all three of these challenges, and are doing something about it. The Bush administration has set a great goal to reduce its dependence on oil by investing in technologies that will produce abundant supplies of clean and renewable energy.
Over the next 10 years, the United States will reduce gasoline consumption by 20 percent, according to the target. In the meantime, it will continue to turn to renewable fuels to power cars, homes and business in this country.
The U.S. federal government spent more than 12 billion U.S. dollars over the past seven years to research, develop and promote alternative energy sources. The private sector is also investing a lot of money to help develop new energy technologies.
The three-day WIREC, hosted by the U.S. government in Washington this week, attracted delegations from more than 100 countries. It aims to garner broad, high-level international support for developing and deploying clean, renewable energy technologies as a key mechanism for increasing energy security, mitigating climate change, and promoting sustainable development.
Source:Xinhua
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