Thursday, February 02, 2006

Bush: Renewable energy close

President Bush has said alternative fuels to compete with petrol could be produced within six years.

Speaking in Nashville, Mr Bush said that scientists were close to a breakthrough on making ethanol from materials such as grasses.Technology, he hoped, would help the US "reduce if not end" reliance on Middle Eastern oil in his lifetime.

In his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday, Mr Bush criticised the US "addiction" to oil. "The best way to break this addiction is through technology," he said. On Wednesday President Bush set off on a tour of the United States to bring the messages in his State of the Union speech to all corners of the nation.

He told the Nashville audience that the US was close to a breakthrough in making ethanol from materials like grasses or woods. "All of a sudden, you know, we may be in the energy business by being able to grow grass on the ranch! And have it harvested and converted into energy. That's what's close to happening," he said. "We're told that if we continue to focus on research, we'll be able to within six years have a competitive fuel to gasoline." The US is the world's biggest consumer of oil. Credit: BBC

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