FORMER US president George W Bush has spoken out in favour of renewable energy, telling the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) that it’s in America’s “economic interests that we diversify away from oil”.
“It’s in our environmental interest. And, finally, it’s in our national security interest,” the former oilman said in Texas overnight.
Mr Bush, speaking at the Dallas Convention Centre, said he believes that his grandchildren “will be driving electric cars, powered primarily by renewable sources of energy”.
“I fully believe plug-in hybrids will be a transition to electric cars,” he said.
Oil and natural gas would remain vital sources of energy as the nation transitions to a new energy era, Mr Bush said.
AWEA executive director Denise Bode introduced Mr Bush as a wonderful supporter of wind, who as Texas governor backed a state law passed in 1999 that helped pave the way for the establishment of new wind generation.
Texas now leads all states in installed wind generation capacity at 9,506 megawatts, more than double the generation capacity in No.2 Iowa.
If Texas were a nation, it would rank sixth in the world in wind capacity, Mr Bush said.
He said he and his wife, Laura, rely on another form of renewable energy – geothermal energy – to help power their ranch home outside Crawford in Central Texas.
Mr Bush spoke after a panel of top wind industry executives urged adoption of a national renewable electricity standard that would encourage long-term investment in wind power.
The AWEA favours a “25 x 25” proposal calling for 25 percent of the nation’s electricity to be produced from renewable sources such as wind and solar power by 2025.
