February 6, 2006—President Bush was on the mark in describing the United States as “addicted to oil” during his State of the Union address, the Alliance to Save Energy said the day after the speech. But he missed an opportunity to enlist the American public in adopting energy-efficiency measures that could immediately reduce energy consumption and costs, the Alliance said.
The Alliance praised the president for his proposal to make permanent the research and development tax credit “to encourage bolder private-sector initiatives in technology,” including in the energy field, and for the proposed Advanced Energy Initiative that would increase by 22 percent the funding for clean energy research by the US Department of Energy.
But the Alliance cautioned that the funding designated for this new initiative must not be derived from funding now supporting other important energy-efficiency programs, nor should it curtail future support for new programs authorized by the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
The Alliance to Save Energy is a coalition of prominent business, government, environmental, and consumer leaders who promote the efficient and clean use of energy worldwide to benefit consumers, the environment, economy, and national security. For more information, visit the Web site.
