After meeting with the chief executive officers of the Big Three, US President George W. Bush inspected alternative fuel vehicle fleets from the transportation industry. The inspection is part of the President's goal of reducing gasoline consumption by twenty percent in the next ten years.
Alternative fuel vehicles present at the inspection came from FedEx, UPS, the U.S. Postal Service and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (METRO). These vehicles use different technologies but share the same goal of reducing gasoline consumption.
Technologies used by the said fleets includes hybrid electric, biodiesel, compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas, propane, and hydrogen fuel cell.
After the demonstration and inspection of the alternative fuel vehicle, the President cited his reason for the event saying: "The reason I've come is I want the American people to understand that there are new technologies on the market that are being used every single day, but there's more we can do." He once again urged the Congress to support his "Twenty in Ten Goal" in his speech. "I'm looking forward to working with Congress to meet this goal. They need to pass meaningful energy legislation as soon as possible, all aiming at making sure that we promote technologies that, for the sake of our national security and for the sake of good environmental policy, we reduce the usage of gasoline," the President added.
It can be remembered that he also appealed to Congress to approve the request for funding for alternative fuel research. He made the appeal after his meeting CEOs of the Big Three - Rick Wagoner for General Motors, Alan Mulally for Ford, and Tom LaSorda for Chrysler. His speech appears to serve as a Volvo spark plug wire in transmitting his goal to the legislative body of the country.
In his State of the Union Address in January of this year, he proposed an allocation of $1.2 billion in research funding for the mentioned technology. Recently he cited that the request for funding pending on Congress will be used for research to develop new ways to produce bio-ethanol from other sources aside from corn.
The President also defended his goal for energy independence. "The goal I laid out of reducing gasoline by 20 percent over 10 years is a realistic goal. In other words, this isn't a pipe dream; this is something that our nation can accomplish. It's going to take more research dollars, it's going to take working with the private sector, and it's going to take innovative leadership," says the President.
He also extended his appreciation to the large fleets present at the demonstration of alternative fuel vehicles saying: "I thank the folks here who are representing companies that have got innovative leadership, people willing to make use of technologies that change the way we drive and will change the way we live."
Glady Reign is a 32 year old is a consultant for an automotive firm based in Detroit, Mi. she is a native of the motor city and grew up around cars hence her expertise in the automotive field.
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