Last updated on August 11th, 2014 at 12:04 am
To See President Biden's 5 Best Jokes At The White House Correspondents Dinner visit The Daily.
He said the technology needed to produce renewable energy is getting cheaper, “A few years ago, it would not have been possible to issue such a challenge. But here’s what’s changed: the sharp cost reductions now beginning to take place in solar, wind, and geothermal power – coupled with the recent dramatic price increases for oil and coal – have radically changed the economics of energy.”
Gore compared the cost of renewable energy to the price of oil, “To those who say the costs are still too high: I ask them to consider whether the costs of oil and coal will ever stop increasing if we keep relying on quickly depleting energy sources to feed a rapidly growing demand all around the world. When demand for oil and coal increases, their price goes up. When demand for solar cells increases, the price often comes down.”
He continued, “When we send money to foreign countries to buy nearly 70 percent of the oil we use every day, they build new skyscrapers and we lose jobs. When we spend that money building solar arrays and windmills, we build competitive industries and gain jobs here at home.”
He talked about the warped logic of our political system, “It is only a truly dysfunctional system that would buy into the perverse logic that the short-term answer to high gasoline prices is drilling for more oil ten years from now. Am I the only one who finds it strange that our government so often adopts a so-called solution that has absolutely nothing to do with the problem it is supposed to address?”
Gore is correct in pointing out that the problem is in our political system. You never hear of Big Solar or Big Windmill, but Big Oil is a force in Washington D.C. Solving this energy problem is a matter of commitment and leadership, not technology. The technology is here. It is only a matter of whether the government will make a commitment to it, because drilling for more oil won’t solve the problem, but using less oil will.
As evidence, look at how much the price of oil has fallen this week because demand is dropping. If we continue to decrease demand, the price of oil will continue to drop. There isn’t enough oil to shift the price through increasing supply, so the answer is to come up with a cheaper alternative. Al Gore gets it. It’s just too bad none of our decisionmakers do as well.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
Colin Jost delivered a powerful close at the White House Correspondents Dinner and his remarks…
Colin Jost brought the jokes, but he also closed with a touching and serious moment…
When it comes to the Supreme Court's questions regarding Donald J. Trump v. United States,…
Newly released exhibits reveal that the lock on the storage room in Mar-a-Lago where Trump…
The Maine House majority leader is vowing to counter any move by the Republican governor…
Trump looked worn out, worn down, and broken as he left court ranting about various…
This website uses cookies.