The president’s energy speech was fueled by hot air
Editorial
The Washington Times
6/16/2010
In his Oval Office address on Tuesday night, President Obama issued a ringing challenge to “embark on a national mission to unleash American innovation and seize control of our own destiny” through developing clean alternative energy. The president stated that the future of unlimited clean energy had been denied to Americans through a cabal of “oil industry lobbyists” and politicians lacking “courage and candor.” But don’t worry, the O Force is determined to focus the efforts of government on the problem, defeat these conspiratorial forces and save the country.
There are only two things wrong with this idea: It isn’t true, and it won’t work…
…For all the condemnations of the internal-combustion engine, gasoline is an extremely efficient, safe and affordable fuel. Gasoline has 80 times the energy by weight of lithium batteries, which are energy-intensive to produce and toxic when disposed. Other potentially viable alternatives are stymied by government regulations. The most beneficial move government could make to promote alternative energy would be to disband the Energy Department and the Environmental Protection Agency and let scientists, inventors and innovators create future energy sources powered by more than the usual political hot air.
Read the complete editorial at the Washington Times.
