Imagine: 500 Miles Per Gallon

sts3234 · 2006-08-04T01:22:52+00:00

Imagine: 500 Miles Per GallonThere have been many calls for programs to fund research. Beneath thedin lies a little-noticed reality-the solution is already with us******************************************************************************************************By Fareed ZakariaNewsweekMarch 7 issue - The most important statement made last week came notfrom Vladimir Putin or George W. Bush but from Ali Naimi, SaudiArabia's shrewd oil minister. Naimi predicted that crude prices wouldstay between $40 and $50 throughout 2005. For the last two years OPEC'sofficial target price has been $25. Naimi's statement signals thatSaudi Arabia now believes that current high prices are not a momentarything. An Asian oil-industry executive told me that he expects oil tohit $75 this decade.We are actually very close to a solution to the petroleum problem.Tomorrow, President Bush could make the following speech: "We are allconcerned that the industrialized world, and increasingly thedeveloping world, draw too much of their energy from one product,petroleum, which comes disproportionately from one volatile region, theMiddle East. This dependence has significant political andenvironmental dangers for all of us. But there is now a solution, onethat the United States will pursue actively."It is now possible to build cars that are powered by a combination ofelectricity and alcohol-based fuels, with petroleum as only one elementamong many. My administration is going to put in place a series ofpolicies that will ensure that in four years, the average new Americancar will get 300 miles per gallon of petroleum. And I fully expect inthis period to see cars in the United States that get 500 miles pergallon. This revolution in energy use will reduce dramatically ourdependence on foreign oil and achieve pathbreaking reductions incarbon-dioxide emissions, far below the targets mentioned in the Kyotoaccords."Ever since September 11, 2001, there have been many calls for ManhattanProjects and...

Aug 04, 2006 42 Replies

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kell 20 years ago

They're spending my money on this comic-book stuff, and you're getting the paycheck, Grise. I'm disappointed in you! [Insert emoticon of your choice here]

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