Bush to Promote Fuel-Saving Technologies

[jpak]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/bw-wh/2006/jan/29/012906925.html

Trying to calm anxieties about soaring energy costs, President Bush is using his State of the Union address this week to focus on a package of energy of proposals aimed at bringing fuel-saving technologies out of the lab and into use.

In Bush's vision, drivers will stop at hydrogen stations and fill their fuel-cell cars with the pollution-free fuel. Or they would power their engines with ethanol made from trash or corn. More Americans would run their lights at home on solar power.

Bush has been talking about these ideas since his first year in office. Proposals aimed at spreading the use of ethanol, hydrogen and renewable fuels all were part of the energy bill that he signed into law in August, but that hasn't eased Americans' worries about high fuel prices.

Americans were hit with the biggest jump in energy prices in 15 years in 2005, and worries about the cost of gas and heating oil have damped spirits about the economy despite other recent encouraging signs.

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[Ian David]

1. It's just a bail-out for the auto industry. There will be no real changes

Just gonna send GM and Ford some extra money to boost their stock price and public image.

[Dead_Parrot]

2. Careful. His lips are moving... nt

[MichiganVote]

3. And all the oil companies will live happily ever after...more pixie dust

[punpirate]

4. Let's take this with a grain of salt...

... renewables were a small part of the last energy bill, while the largest part was composed of tax breaks and subsidies for mature, entrenched traditional energy companies. Any new proposal is likely to be more of the same. Sounds as if there's still some debt-financed public money left for the big multinationals to suck up, and Bush is accomodating them.

[jpak]

12. Eggzakly - I believe it's a red herring...and a fig leaf

to mix them metaphors...

:)

The big energy news coming out of the SOTU address will most likely be the resumption of spent fuel reprocessing - not ChimpCo or GOP support for renewables or conservation.

We all know Tricky Dick's views and opinions regarding conservation (personal virtue, etc.)

and we all know that ChimpCo's Energy Bill had little in the way of incentives or R&D for renewables.

and that Republicans repeatedly attempted to defund the few renewable energy programs in the Bill...(Dems fought to keep them).

I expect MSM headlines like "Bush Pushes Conservation and Alternative Energy" not "Bush Reverses US Policy on Nuclear Fuel Recycling"....

I'll believe ChimpCo's support for renewables and conservation when I see the dough....

SHOW ME THE MONEY...

[depakid]

5. Too stupid to know anything about hydrogen

It's a pipe dream. Actually- pipes are part of the problem. Becuase hydrogen molecules are so small (and much more corrosive than natural gas) they leak. Sometimes a lot. Building the infrastructure required for to use it efficently on any kind of scale is impractical

And of course, it takes more energy to make the hydrogen than you get from it. Where does that energy come from? natural gas? It's already in depletion in North America. And it looks like with Harper in place, the Canadians are going to use a lot of it from their Mackenzie fields to exploit their tar sands. Not to mention that most hydrogen today is made from natural gas. Ooops.

Unfortunately the sheeple are too ignorant to realize this- and all too eager to believe in enery panaceas. Man, are they in for a rude awakening in the none too distant future.

[chelsea0011]

6. Like stop flying AF1 to daily rallys? Nah!

[Deja Q]

7. LOL. For his wealthy buds and the Indians and the Chinese.

Everyone else is redundant.

And * had been talking about them? That's a crock; he DID tell us we need an energy policy based on consumption. And that's oil. :dunce:

[Dr Batsen D Belfry]

8. If he can SPELL hydrogen without a teleprompter or earpiece

I'll listen. I don't think I need to worry.

I am also guessing the creative oil baron geniuses in the energy "think tanks" are down to "eat baked beans and fart into a ziploc" as an option for energy development and storage.

DBDB

[natrat]

9. i pitty the fool who believes anything out of that suckers mouth n/t

[Divernan]

10. Same old, same old dog & pony shows w/ lots of smoke and mirrors.

Will he comment on Exxon and Shell's record profits? Nah, didn't think so.

[Canuckistanian]

11. Didn't the Bush family start investing in hydrogen?

Anyone remember that? I think it was Poppy and *. They were investing in hydrogen fuel companies.

[VTMechEngr]

13. Ethanol from corn is just stupid.

There are so many other plants that produce more sugar for less fertilizer and water. Corn is too wasteful. But, yeh, I know. Its a "political" thing.

[IDemo]

15. True: switchgrass, sugarcane, and hemp, for example

But as you said, yes, it's a political thing, and the agri-giant ADM (Archer Daniels Midland) wants to push more corn on Americans, whether as the source of sugar in canned soda, or as the 'Next Great Thing' in SUV fuel.

Nevermind the soil depletion of the farm belt, along with the nitrogen-based fertilizer pollution of the Mississippi River, which has ultimately resulted in a large 'dead-zone' in the Gulf of Mexico.

[IDemo]

14. Hydrogen fuel? Nope

"In Bush's vision, drivers will stop at hydrogen stations and fill their fuel-cell cars with the pollution-free fuel."

1) - Hydrogen is not a fuel (energy source), but an energy carrier, much like battery fluid.

2) - Hydrogen, most of which is now derived from natural gas, is anything but "pollution-free".

3) - The storage of either liquid hydrogen or highly compressed gaseous hydrogen is very expensive.

4) - Fuel-cells are nowhere near ready for primetime in the automotive world.

[hatrack]

17. The "cheapest" fuel-cell prototype to date comes in at about $1.3 million

1). The fuel cells themselves are good for about 35 - 40,000 miles and then have to be replaced.
2). There is no - I repeat, NO fueling infrastructure worthy of the name, beyond a few photo-op sites in LA and DC
3). Cold weather operations are a serious issue for fuel-cell cars - all that water moving through tiny pipes, you know . . .

[hatrack]

16. More bullshit, more lies, more spin, more thumb-twiddling, more greenwash

"Vision"? Try "hallucination".