I am extremely pleased to be with all of you this morning, and not just because of the ice cream. I don’t know about you, but I would have been here even without ice cream, because our Administration places such a high priority on energy efficiency and renewable energy.

I know all of you do as well, and I want to especially thank Senator Wayne Allard and Congressmen Mark Udall and Zach Wamp for their leadership on these issues on Capitol Hill. And let me also acknowledge Senator Allard’s co-chair of the Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus, Byron Dorgan, who, unfortunately, cannot be with us right now.

When President Bush spoke at the 16^th Annual Energy Efficiency Forum just last week, he said that the first step to making America less dependent on foreign oil is to improve conservation and efficiency.

This emphasis on energy efficiency, conservation, and renewable energies was an integral part of the comprehensive National Energy Plan issued by the President four years ago, a report that has guided and continues to guide our Administration’s energy policies.

So over the last four years the Department of Energy has focused a lot of effort and a large amount of money on cutting edge initiatives designed to strengthen Americans’ energy security in the 21^st century.

We are working to come up with new alternatives to gasoline and diesel. Our ambitious Hydrogen Fuel Initiative to develop cars and trucks that don’t require gasoline should help advance the hydrogen economy and greatly lessen our dependence on foreign sources of oil.

Our work with hybrid vehicles will help conserve gas and protect the environment, and I want to note that the President recently called for giving every American who purchases a hybrid vehicle a tax credit of up to $4,000.

We are investing in developing alternative sources of fuel, such as ethanol made from corn and biodiesel from soybeans.

Our Energy Star program encourages the development and sale of energy-efficient appliances and other home products. These have helped to make the average home much more efficient. In 2001 the typical American family spent about half as much to heat its home as it did a quarter century ago – thanks in part to innovations like the super-efficient refrigerator that uses less energy than a 75-watt light bulb.

And we are researching how to harness technology to help deliver electricity more efficiently. Experts in our national labs are investigating the promise of superconducting power lines, as well as ways to modernize our aging electricity infrastructure.

Passage of comprehensive energy legislation will go a long way toward helping advance needed energy efficiency and conservation measures, whether it’s extending the Energy Star program, or setting mandatory reliability standards for electric utilities that will bring our electric grid system into the 21^st century.

As the President said last week, "The energy bill will help us make better use of the energy supplies we now have and will make our supply of energy more affordable and more secure for the future."

He’s absolutely right. It’s long past the time for Congress to send an energy bill to the President’s desk. I encourage everyone here today to work as hard as you can in the coming weeks to ensure passage of comprehensive energy legislation.

Media contact:
Rebecca Neale, 202/586-4940

Location:
Cannon House Office Building