100% Clean Energy in Ten Years? Al Gore Says Yes

Former Vice President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore issued a bold challenge last week: that 100 percent of U.S. electricity production come from sources with zero carbon emissions within 10 years. Gore also clearly made the case that the biggest problems we are facing right now are connected and must be solved together. "We are borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that's got to change," he said.

"But if we grab hold of that common thread and pull it hard," Gore continued, "all of these complex problems begin to unravel and we will find that we are holding the answer to all of them right in our hand. The answer is to end our reliance on carbon-based fuels. I'm convinced that one reason we've seemed paralyzed in the face of these crises is our tendency to offer old solutions to each crisis separately -- without taking the others into account. And these outdated proposals have not only been ineffective -- they almost always make the other crises even worse."

In the speech hosted by the "We" Campaign, Gore challenged all Americans to solve America's economic, environmental and national security crises by rallying behind a single, comprehensive objective. "This goal is achievable, affordable and transformative. It represents a challenge to all Americans -- in every walk of life: our political leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, engineers and every citizen," said Gore. Among the dangers in not creating a new energy infrastructure, Gore
said, is that fuel prices will continue to rise and weaken the U.S. economy. He encouraged Americans to not accept the solutions of the past, like drilling for more oil.

Gore described the following as components of meeting this challenge:
-- Expand the wind and solar sectors through continued investment and innovation.
-- Add other renewables should be added to the mix, such as geothermal and solar thermal.
-- The greatest gains can be made in energy efficiency. For instance, existing technologies can raise household efficiency by 30 percent.
-- America must invest in a Unified National Grid that would link every household and move cost-effective renewable electricity from places where the supply is vast to where the power is needed most.
-- We should retain the existing fossil fuel-free energy production from nuclear and hydroelectric power.
-- We must learn to safely store and capture carbon from coal and gas.