Renewable Bush

President Bush spoke today at a renewable energy conference in Washington. The following is from his closing paragraph:

"Leave with one thing in mind: The United States is committed, and we're firm in our commitments, to deal with energy problems and to deal with global climate change."

The full speech is available at

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/03/20080305.html

It comes complete with intentionally funny Bushisms like "I appreciate your commitment to renewable energy. I probably didn't help today when I rode over in a 20-car motorcade."

. . . and strange, head-scratching Bushisms like "Now, all the countries we import from are friendly, stable countries; but some countries we get oil from don't particularly like us."

The speech and accompanying press release highlight several good steps that the Administration has taken over the past few years---actions worth applauding like the "Lighting Efficiency Mandate" to phase out our inefficient century-old bulb technology and significant increases in auto fuel economy standards.

There are more steps that President could easily take though. For example, the President has complete control over the actual grounds of the White House, but has yet to power this most famous of addresses with a green source of electricity. Your friendly blogger raised this issue with White House staff almost a year ago and also sent a letter to the President and First Lady that has yet to be answered (I'm hoping they are just arguing over wind versus solar).

Look for opportunities in coming posts to support the Green White House movement. Also, expect some thoughts on the President's new technology will save us approach, but for now, let's just delight in the strong statements included in today's speech and hope that more action follows.