McCain calls for energy-efficient government

I think this is the best idea I have heard of about our energy crisis in this campaign. This will bring new excitement into developing a battery that will eliminate our need for oil. Hurrah McCain!!

I've actually been thinking about something like this for a while. I was thinking a similar prize to the company that is able to release a car that get 60 miles per gallon, one that is commercially viable of course (as in they would have to produce over a certain number in order to get the prize).

In any case, it's a good idea on McCain's part. Still won't vote for the man. Hope Obama steals my idea!

Sounds like that prize that was offered for the first civilian space launch. With luck, this will cause competition between several companies to develop such a battery. I'm guessing that the prize winning battery won't even be the best battery, just the first one. Then everyone else can compare notes on all of the batteries and the best one can be adopted even if it wasn't the first one finished.

I also like the tax credit for zero-emissions cars. I really don't think giving consumers the tax break would have the same effect, since it wouldn't entice the automakers to get the cars on the market in the first place. American consumers, I think, will buy the cars out of enlightened self-interest more readilly than automakers will build them out of that motivation. The American public is definitely a lot greener than corporate America. So I think the money is being waved under the right noses here.

it only took him 26 years to think of it , its a campaign gimmick and another reason to not let this idiot close to the presidency, if he had said it back in the 80's when this energy problem began to damage our economy I would have said hurray too but he has been a staunch supporter of big oil his entire career. And this pandering to environmentalist at this stage is a insult to all that have pushed seriously for so many years

[reads headline]

WOW! I had no idea McCain had that much money! He's loaded!

How can he be having trouble financing his campaign with that much personal wealth?

[reads story]

The presumed Republican nominee is proposing a $300 million government prize to whoever can develop an automobile battery that far surpasses existing technology. The bounty would equate to $1 for every man, woman and child in the country, "a small price to pay for helping to break the back of our oil dependency," McCain said in remarks prepared for delivery Monday at Fresno State University in California.

Oh, yeah...it's not his money to give away.

I'm just wondering where the money is coming from. If I overlooked that part in the article please let me know. But does anyone know where the money is coming from?

It is a better idea than sticking corn in your car!!!!

LOL.

The industry is already spending BILLIONS of dollars a year in research. This is nothing but a joke.

People are so polarized on this issue as though any one solution will resolve the problem. The reality that drilling may not produce oil for 5-10 years does not change the fact that developing alternatives, and changing over the infrastructure of our society will take 20 to 30 years. The solution is going to have to be multi-faceted, and both sides are going to have to give a little. The solution to this problem must be looked at in terms of time frame:

1) Short term - Draw 2 million barrels of oil/day from our reserves to ease the current price pressure. We have enough reserves to do this for up to 10 years until step 2 below can be implemented, and still maintain a 2 year supply for emergency. The many BILLIONS in revenue from the sale of Oil from our reserves would be used to fund an aggressive R&D project on cost effective alternative energy sources. The R&D plan needs to involve all alternative energy sources as well as energy saving technologies, and have timelines and milestones set to monitor progress.

2) Intermediate term - Become oil independent by harvesting the oil we have, and using it until the alternatives are implemented into society. We have plenty of oil right here in the USA if we just go get it. It's estimated that we have enough just in our shale oil to last 110 years at current consumption rates. But consumption is not the ultimate goal--only a temporary step until alternatives can be implemented into our society.

3) Long term - Become fossil fuel independent by replacing fossil fuel equipment with eco friendly and more cost effective alternatives.

The first key to this plan is to stop believing that the oil companies are going to save the planet. They are oil companies. The alternatives are their competition. You can't blame a company for failing to slit it's own throat. Get someone else doing this research instead of expecting oil companies to turn on their stockholders. Doing the same thing, and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.

The second key is to actually do the research, and expect real results. We need to be determined to be off of foreign oil within 10 years, and to have cost effective alternatives in place to have us off of fossil fuels within 30 years including the time to change over our societies infrastructure.

The third, and most important key is that we have to quit pointing fingers at the other side of the isle, and work together on the solution. We currently are gridlocked in this country, and nothing will happen until we get past our extreme partisanship. Just as we worked together to put a man on the moon in the 60's, there is little we can't do by working together. As it stands now, the only thing either side does is tear down the other, so nothing gets accomplished.