Apologies: the first time I sent this out, a few hours ago, titled
"Pres. Bush Calls Ethanol/PHEVS 'amazing technological
breakthrough..", I didn't stop to read the whole speech. In the Q&A
of his speech at the Port of Tampa, he answers two questions at
length and in a less scripted manner than the speech.

The Pres. will deliver a speech on the Advanced Energy Initiative
Monday at Johnson Controls <http://www.jci.com>in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. (Johnson is in a lithium-ion battery joint venture with
French company SAFT, which produces the li-ion batteries in the
DaimlerChrysler Sprinter PHEV prototype.)

Please comment not by replying to this message but at our Blog,
http://www.hybridcars.com/blogs/power/pres-bush-endorses-phevs-amazing-breakthro\
ugh


http://www.earnedmedia.org/wh02171.htm
REMARKS by President Bush at Republican Party of Florida Dinner
From the Christian Communication Networks' Christian News Wire

Remarks by President Bush at Republican Party of Florida Dinner

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida, Feb. 17 /Christian Wire Service/ -- The
following text is of remarks by President Bush at Republican Party of
Florida dinner:
5:50 P.M. EST

We can become independent from oil from the Middle East. In order to
remain a competitive nation, in order to remain a world leader, this
country has got to use technology to get us off being hooked on oil.
I know that may sound strange from a guy from Texas. (Laughter.) When
I sit there and think about the world on a daily basis, I see what
happens when there's instability in parts of the world from which we
get our oil. Listen, we're close to some amazing technological
breakthroughs that will enable us to drive automobiles fueled by
ethanol, or have a plug-in hybrid battery that will make it much
easier for you to use electricity when it comes to driving your cars.

Our party stands for innovation. Our party stands for change. And our
party is going to stand for economic and national security by doing
something about our dependence on Middle Eastern oil. (Applause.)

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/02/20060217-4.html
President Discusses Global War on Terror Following Briefing at CENTCOM
Port of Tampa
Tampa, Florida
1:26 P.M. EST

In order for us to be competitive and lead in the world, we've got to
get -- we've got to get off of Middle Eastern oil. I know it shocks
some of you to hear a Texan say, we're addicted to oil. And we are,
and it's a problem. It's a problem. It's a national security problem,
and it's an economic security problem to be reliant upon oil from
parts of the world that may be unstable, or parts of the world that
simply don't like us. And so the best way to deal with that is to
continue to foster new technologies because of research and
development that will enable us to use different fuels in our cars,
for example.

There's Kennedy right there. Good to see you, Kennedy. The reason I
thought of him is because he's from a part of the world that's
growing a lot of crops that can be converted into energy. We're
close. We're close to technological breakthroughs that will enable us
to convert wood chips and sawgrass -- we already convert sugar, corn
and soy -- into fuel. And think about that. If this technology comes
true, which we believe it will, then pretty soon a President is going
to say, we're growing a lot of crops and we're less dependent on
Middle Eastern oil. There are 4.5 million cars today that are
flex-fuel cars that can either run on gasoline or ethanol. In other
words, the technology is available inside the automobile. And it's coming.

And we're making some great breakthroughs on battery technology. Next
week I'm going to travel around the country going to some of the most
innovative places around our country that are providing new
technologies to enable us to become less dependent on oil, which will
keep us a leader in the world.


Q Mr. President, you mentioned a trip next week to visit the sources
of renewable additional technology to reduce our dependence on
foreign oil. We have a not-so-renewable resource, which is our
precious Florida coastline. And because of your great brother, we do
have an unemployment rate of 3.3 percent. How can you work with us to
protect our Florida shoreline with respect to offshore drilling?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I made a commitment that nothing is going to
happen within a hundred miles of this coastline, and I'm honoring the
commitment. I don't care what people might be saying -- I guess maybe
they quit saying it after the '04 campaign -- but it's a commitment
that this government has -- at least my government has made, and I'm
going to honor it. When we say a hundred miles off the coastline, we
don't mean 99 miles or 89 miles, we mean a hundred miles. So rest easy.

Now, the thing about -- look, we've got to get off of hydrocarbons.
We just do. And I'm a believer in nuclear power. (Applause.) I think
it's a -- maybe some day, and I think we'll -- I'll figure out --
I'll find out how close we are when I visit with some of these solar
technology people, but it's very likely that you'll become a little
power generator in your own home, and that the excess power that you
do not use you feed back in the grid. Hybrid batteries -- batteries
for plug-in hybrid automobiles are pretty close, they tell me. And
I'm going to see firsthand -- sometimes the President gets the cook's
tour, I know it -- (laughter) -- but nevertheless, I'm going to see firsthand.

Now, what's interesting is, is that a lot of people in urban areas
are not going to drive more than 30 miles a day. And so we're
developing automobile engines that can run on electricity for 30
miles, and then if you go more, your gasoline kicks in. But it
requires a battery that has got good storage capacity and is easy to
recharge. It's coming.

And so there's a lot of technologies that are coming on the market,
and we're spending money. And it's a good use of taxpayers' money, it
seems like to me, in order to achieve some big objectives.

I'm going to India on March the 1st, around that period of time, and
I believe that it's good policy for the United States to encourage
these emerging economies to use clean energy, nuclear power, so as to
help reduce demand for kind of non-renewables. And so I'm going to
talk to them about development of a civilian nuclear power industry.
They're telling me China has got about 34 plants on the market, which
is good. But this expansion of nuclear power -- which is in our
interests, by the way; it's in our interests because of the quality
of the air, it's in our interests because it takes -- reduces demand,
global demand -- is going to create another issue, and that is, what
are we going to do with the spent fuel? This country doesn't
reprocess spent fuel; we should. Reprocessing spent fuel means that
we're able to continue to reuse the base material that went through
the burn the first time in a plant, and reduce the amount that we
have to then eventually store. And we chose not to do that in the
late '70s because of proliferation concerns. I'm convinced we can
work internationally to address those issues.

And so I'm just sharing with you -- we got a full strategy to help us
make us less dependent on energy -- on foreign sources of energy.


Q And my question is, you've talked a lot about our addiction to oil
today.You've also talked about advanced alternative fuel sources, in
particular for household vehicles as a potential mitigant to that
dilemma. But we have a very robust industrialized economy -- air,
rail, shipping, trucking -- that has depended on oil, frankly, for
generations to be successful and vibrant. So my question is, how do
we maintain the most advanced industrialized economy on Earth, and
actually reduce our dependency on oil going forward?

THE PRESIDENT:Well, I believe -- first of all, natural gas has driven
a lot of our industrialized growth, as you know.And we are -- we need
to have -- import liquified natural gas if we're going to be modern
and stay competitive.

Listen, we're going to need oil. The question is, are we able to
reduce dependency from certain parts of the world. And I think that
by relieving pressure on how we drive our cars, we'll, in fact, help
segments of our economy that are going to take a while to diversify
away from hydrocarbons, I guess is the best kind of macro look.

Things don't happen instantly; I understand that. But, nevertheless,
there are some practical ways that we can reduce our dependency, and
it seems like to me the most practical way is to change automobiles,
change how we drive.In the short-term, ethanol and hybrid batteries
makes the most sense to me. It's the most practical way, and most
economic way, to begin the reduction of dependency.

Now, listen, we've got a large fleet -- I told you, there's
four-and-a-half flex-fuel cars [sic]. That's good, except there's
about 200 million cars. And it takes a while for fleets to renew. And
so things don't happen instantly, but they will happen quicker as we
continue to press for innovation and technology.

Ultimately, I believe that we're going to be using hydrogen to power
our automobiles. But that's 15 years down the -- for the technology
to be applicable is 15 years down the road. And I guess what I'm not
only -- I guess I am, what I'm telling you is that we see
technological breakthroughs pretty darn quick when it comes to
ethanol and hybrid batteries, which is a positive development for the
people. And the interesting thing about ethanol is that the barriers
to entry are pretty low, when it comes to manufacturing -- if the
technology says that we can -- yields the capacity to convert
switchgrasses and refuses to ethanol, once that technological
breakthrough comes, the barriers to entry are pretty low when it
comes to building the manufacturing capacity that converts raw
material to ethanol. Much different from a big cracker refinery. And
so that's positive. So we've got the car technology, hopefully have
the breakthrough technology on fuel, and then the infrastructure will follow.

And so what I'm saying is, this is the most practical way to become
less dependent on oil. And the economy will continue to function. But
things are happening, by the way, in diesel. I don't know -- if any
of you know something about trucking, you know that diesel, clean
diesel engines are coming. We did a deal in my administration to work
with diesel engine manufacturers to come up with a very low-emission
engine that is now being applied in trucks, and it's going to make a
difference -- on Caterpillar tractors. We're getting there, we're
getting there.

Thanks for the question.


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Felix Kramer fkramer@...
Founder California Cars Initiative
http://www.calcars.org
http://www.calcars.org/news-index.html
http://www.hybridcars.com/blogs/power
http://www.seattleeva.org/wiki/EAA-PHEV
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