Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) began his remarks with a comparison between Ross Perot’s first claim to fame and fortune (utilizing unused bank computer time after hours to manage Medicade data) with the unused electrical capacity that is presently available on the grid each and every night.
This unused electrical capacity holds remarkable potential … the potential to turn around this country’s current economic crisis.
Senator Alexander stressed that plug-in electric vehicles are one of the answers to high gas prices and is working to help make the public more aware of the technology. The Senator recently suggested to 200 scientists at the Oak Ridge Laboratory that “we needed a new Manhattan Project for clean energy independence.”
This clean energy initiative should include:
- Fuel efficiency standards, in place now, without specifying one technology.
- Low carbon fuel standard
- Federal government should bid out a percentage of the 65,000 non-trucks purchased each year as electric vehicles.
- Battery research
- Accelerated depreciation for smart meters
- Carbon capture
- Old coal plants must meet higher standards
“This is a time when we ought to be working together … on a path to clean energy independence.”