    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book I)]
    [February 21, 2006]
    [Pages 300-310]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks in a Discussion on Energy Conservation and Efficiency in Golden,
    Colorado
    February 21, 2006

        The President. Thank you all. Please be seated. Thanks for having
    me. I am honored to be at the National Renewable Energy Lab, which will
    be henceforth called NREL. [Laughter] I have come today to discuss
    unbelievable opportunities for our country to achieve a great national
    goal, and that is to end our addiction on oil.
        I know it sounds odd for a Texan to say that. [Laughter] But I have
    spent a lot of time worrying about the national security implications of
    being addicted to oil, particularly from parts of the world where people
    may not agree with our policy or our way of life, and the economic
    security implications of being hooked on oil, particularly since the
    demand for oil is rising faster than the supply of oil. And any time
    that happens, it creates the conditions for what could be--price
    disruption and price spikes at home are like hidden taxes on the working
    people of our country.
        And so we're here to discuss ways to achieve this really important
    national goal. And there's no better place to come than NREL, and I want
    to thank you all for hosting me. I appreciate--I really appreciate the
    scientists and dreamers and, more importantly, doers who work here to
    help achieve this important goal.
        I recognize that there has been some interesting--let me say--mixed
    signals when it comes to funding. The issue, of course, is whether or
    not good intentions are met with actual dollars spent. Part of the issue
    we face, unfortunately, is that there are sometimes decisions made, but
    as a result of the appropriations process, the money may not end up
    where it was supposed to have gone. I was talking to Dan about our mutual desire to clear up any discrepancies in
    funding, and I think we've cleaned up those discrepancies. My message to
    those who work here is: We want you to know how important your work is;
    we appreciate what you're doing; and we expect you to keep doing it; and
    we want to help you keep doing it.
        I want to thank Dan. He's going to be saying
    some stuff here in a minute, so we're not going to--I'm just going to
    thank him. I want to thank your staff for hosting us. It's a pain to
    host the President. [Laughter] But anyway, you've done a fine job. And I
    want to thank the Governor of the State of Colorado, Bill Owens, for joining us. The United States Senator Ken Salazar--thanks for coming, Ken. I appreciate
    it. The Congressman from this district, Bob
    Beauprez--I appreciate you being here. The Congressman from the
    adjoining district, Mark Udall--Mark, there you
    go. Thanks for coming.
        We got all kinds of people--we got the mayor--appreciate you coming,
    Mayor Baroch. Thanks for coming, mayor.
    Just fill the potholes. [Laughter] You got a great city; thanks for
    having us. I appreciate the statehouse folks, Senator Andy
    McElhany and Joe Stengel, from this district. I think that's right. Appreciate you
    coming. Thank you, Andy. Good to see you. I want to thank the
    directors--thank everybody. [Laughter]
        So the challenge is, what do we do to achieve objectives? In other
    words, we set goals--so what do we need to do? What do we need to do as
    a nation to meet the goal? How can we fulfill our responsibilities that
    really say we understand the problems we face? So here's what we need to
    do.
        First, we need to make sure we're the leader of technology in the
    world. I don't mean just relative to previous times in American history.
    I think this country needs to lead the world and continue to lead the
    world. And so, how do you do that? First,

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    there's a Federal commitment to spending research dollars. In my State
    of the Union, I called on Congress to double the research in basic
    sciences at the Federal level. This will help places like NREL. It will
    continue this grand tradition of the Federal Government working with the
    private sector to spend valuable research money in order to make sure we
    develop technologies that keep us as the leader.
        In order for us to achieve this national goal of becoming less
    dependent on foreign sources of oil, we've got to spend money. And the
    best place to do that is through research labs such as NREL. Now, we
    also got to recognize that two-thirds of the money spent on research in
    the United States comes from the private sector. See? So it's one thing
    for the Federal Government to make a commitment of doubling the funding
    over a 10-year period, but we've got to recognize that most of the money
    is done through corporate America, through the private sector.
        And one thing that seems like a smart thing to do, for me, is to
    make the tax rules clear. The research and development tax credit
    expires on an annual basis. It doesn't make any sense to say to
    corporate America or the private sector, ``Plan for the long run, but
    we're not going to tell you whether or not the Tax Code is going to be
    the same from year to year.'' And so, in order to encourage that two-
    thirds of the investment in the private sector--necessary to help us
    achieve national goals and objectives, one of which is to stay on the
    leading edge of innovation--is to have the research and development tax
    credit a permanent part of our Tax Code.
        Now, in order to get us less addicted to oil, we got to figure out
    where we use oil, and that's pretty easy, when you think about it. We
    use a lot of oil for our transportation needs. And so if we can change
    the way we drive our cars and our trucks, we can change our addiction to
    oil. And laboratories such as this are doing unbelievably interesting
    work on helping us change the way we drive our automobiles. And you're
    going to hear some interesting discussion with people who are on the
    frontlines of these technological changes.
        Just--I want to tell the American people three ways that we can
    change the way we drive our automobiles. One is through the use of
    hybrid vehicles. And Congress wisely increased the tax credit available
    to those who purchase hybrid vehicles. In other words, we're trying to
    increase demand for hybrid vehicles. You can get up to a $3,400 tax
    credit now if you buy a hybrid vehicle. Hybrid vehicles are vehicles
    that use a gasoline engine to help charge a battery, and when the
    battery is charged, the battery kicks in, and if the battery gets low,
    the gasoline engine kicks back in to charge the battery. It's a hybrid--
    in other words, two sources of power for the engine.
        The new technological breakthrough, however, is going to be when we
    develop batteries that are able to enable an automobile to drive, say,
    the first 40 miles on electricity alone. Those are what we call plug-in
    hybrid vehicles. And yesterday I was at Johnson Controls, which is one
    of the private-sector companies that are developing the new technologies
    to enable cars to be able to not need the gasoline engine to charge the
    battery. Now, that saves a lot of--you can begin to think about how this
    new technology is going to enable us to save on gasoline use, which
    makes us less dependent on crude oil, since crude oil is the feedstock
    for gasoline.
        The idea is to have an automobile, say, that can drive 40 miles on
    the battery, as I mentioned. But if you're living in a big city, that's
    probably all you're going to need for that day's driving. And then you
    can get home and plug your car right into the outlet in your house. This
    is coming. I mean, we're close to this. It's going to require more
    research dollars. The budget I submitted to the Congress does have money
    in it for this type of research for

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    new types of batteries. But I want the people to know we're close. The
    hybrid vehicles you're buying today are an important part of making sure
    you save money when it comes to driving. But they're going to change
    with the right research and development. Technology will make it so that
    the hybrid vehicles are even better in getting us less addicted on oil
    and making it good for the consumer's pocketbook.
        Secondly, there is a fantastic technology brewing--I say brewing;
    it's kind of a catch on words here--[laughter]--called ethanol. I mean,
    it's--there's a lot of folks in the Midwest driving--using what's called
    E-85 gasoline. It means 85 percent of the fuel they're putting in their
    car is derived from corn. This is exciting news for those of us worried
    about addiction to oil. I mean, you grow a lot of corn; you're less
    dependent on foreign sources of energy. Using corn for fuel helps our
    farmers and helps our foreign policy at the same time. It's a good deal.
        The problem is, we need more sources of ethanol. We need more--need
    to use different products than just corn. Got to save some corn to eat,
    of course. [Laughter] Corn flakes without corn is kind of--[laughter].
    And so one of the interesting things happening in this laboratory and
    around the country is what's called the development of cellulosic
    ethanol. That's a fancy word for using switchgrass, corn--or wood
    products, stuff that you generally allow to decompose, to become a
    source of energy.
        And as our fellow citizens begin to think to whether or not it makes
    sense to spend research, imagine--dollars on this technology, imagine
    people in the desert being able to grow switchgrasses that they can then
    convert into energy for ethanol for the cars that they're driving there
    in Arizona. I mean, all of a sudden, the whole equation about energy
    production begins to shift dramatically. And we're going to hear a lot
    about cellulosic ethanol.
        Finally, hydrogen fuel cells--it's not a short-term solution or an
    intermediate-term solution, but it's definitely a long-term solution. It
    will help us achieve grand objectives: less dependence on oil and the
    production of automobiles that have zero emissions that could harm our
    air. And we'll talk a lot about hydrogen fuel cells.
        Finally, I do want to talk about technologies that will enable us to
    change the way we power our homes and businesses, which is the second
    part of the strategy, the Advanced Energy Initiative strategy.
        First of all, there's huge pressure on natural gas; people in
    Colorado know what I'm talking about. We've been using a lot of natural
    gas for the generation of electricity. And we got to change that.
    Natural gas is important for manufacturing. It's important for
    fertilizers. But to use it for electricity is causing enormous pressure,
    because we're not getting enough natural gas produced.
        One way to alleve [alleviate]* the pressure on price is to expand
    the use of liquefied natural gas through new terminals. And I want to
    thank the Congress for passing new siting rights in the energy bill that
    will enable us to have more terminals for us to be able to receive
    liquefied natural gas from parts of the world that can produce it
    cheaply--liquefy it, and then ship it to the United States.???
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        *White House correction.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        But the other way to take the price off of gas is to better use
    coal, nuclear power, solar and wind energy. Now, when you hear people
    say coal, it causes people to shudder, because coal--it's hard to burn
    it. But we have got--we're spending about $2 billion over a 10-year
    period to develop clean coal technologies. If technology can help the
    way we live, technology can certainly help change the way we utilize
    coal. And it's important that we spend money on new technologies so we
    can burn coal cleanly, because we got 250 years worth of coal reserves.

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        One way to take the pressure off natural gas is to use coal more
    efficiently. We believe by 2015, we'll have developed the first zero-
    emission coal-fire electricity plant. We're making progress. We're
    spending money; research is good. The American taxpayers have got to
    know that by spending money on this vital research, that we're going to
    be able to use our abundant sources of coal in an environmentally
    friendly way and help with your electricity bills.
        Secondly, we've got to use nuclear power more effectively and more
    efficiently. We haven't built a plant since the 1970s. You're seeing
    now, France has built a lot of plants since the 1970s. They get about 85
    percent of their electricity from nuclear power. And technology has
    changed dramatically, and I believe we can build plants in a safe way
    and, at the same time, generate cost-effective electricity that does
    not--that the process of which won't pollute.
        And so we've begun to, in the energy bill, begun to provide
    incentives for the nuclear power industry to start siting plants. It
    just doesn't make any sense to me that we don't use this technology if
    we're interested in becoming less dependent on foreign sources of energy
    and we want to protect our environment.
        And finally, solar and wind technologies--we're also going to talk
    about that. NREL is doing a lot of important work on solar and wind
    technology. The vision for solar is, one day, each home becomes a little
    power unit unto itself, that photovoltaic processes will enable you to
    become a little power generator, and that if you generate more power
    than you use, you can feed it back into the grid.
        I was, yesterday, in Michigan, and went to United Solar, and they've
    got some fantastic technologies. Dan was quick to
    remind me, others have fantastic technologies as well. [Laughter] I just
    hadn't seen them firsthand. But the American people need to know, with
    additional research dollars, which we're proposing to Congress, we're
    close to some important breakthroughs--to be able to use this technology
    to help folks power their homes by the Sun.
        And finally, wind--we don't have a lot of turbines in Washington,
    but there's a lot of wind there, I can assure you of that. [Laughter]
    But there are parts of the country where there are turbines. They say to
    me that there's about 6 percent of the country that's perfectly suited
    for wind energy, and that if the technology is developed further, that
    it's possible we could generate up to 20 percent of our electricity
    needs through wind and turbine.
        What I'm talking about is a comprehensive strategy. In other words,
    we're not relying upon one aspect of renewable energy to help this
    country become less dependent; we're talking about a variety of fronts.
    And we're willing to work with both the public sector and private sector
    to make sure that we achieve breakthroughs. And I'm fired up about it
    and so should the American people be. I mean, we're close to changing
    the way we live in an incredibly positive way. And therefore, I want to
    thank the folks at NREL for being a part of this exciting movement. It's
    got to be pretty interesting to be one of these guys working on how to
    make switchgrass go to fuel. I mean, it's got to make you feel good
    about your work, because you're doing the country a great service.
        And so with that in mind, I've asked Dan Arvizu to join us. He's the director of the NREL. That means
    he's--that means you're the boss? [Laughter]
        Dan Arvizu. Only part of the time.
        The President. Only part of the time.
        Mr. Arvizu. Until I get home. [Laughter]
        The President. Why don't you tell the folks--that's a smart man.
    [Laughter] Why don't you tell the folks what you do here so people can
    understand.

    [At this point, Mr. Arvizu, director, National Renewable Energy
    Laboratory, made brief remarks.]

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        The President. I think what he's saying is,
    one of these days, we're going to take wood chips--[laughter]--put them
    through the factory, and it's going to be fuel you can put in your car.
    Is that right?
        Mr. Arvizu. That's absolutely true.
    [Laughter]
        The President. Stuff that would normally--[applause]. That's the
    difference between a Ph.D. and the C student. [Laughter]
        Mr. Arvizu. I didn't want to say that.
        The President. Yes, right. [Laughter] Anyway, keep going. [Laughter]
        Mr. Arvizu. One of the other areas that we're
    tremendously excited by is photovoltaics. You mentioned the
    photovoltaics.
        The President. Explain what photovoltaics are. I threw it out there
    as kind of, you know, showing off, but tell people what it means.
        Mr. Arvizu. Photovoltaics is actually the
    direct conversion of sunlight to electricity through a semiconductor
    material, and it's essentially what we use in computers for chips that
    power those things. And to a large degree, it's a technology that's been
    around a long time, but it has become much closer to commercialization.
    Now, in high-value markets, it is commercial today.

    [Mr. Arvizu continued his remarks.]

        The President. See, what's changed is, the global supply for fossil
    fuels is outstripping the--the global demand is outstripping the global
    supply. And so you're seeing a price of the feedstock of normal energy
    going up, and technology driving the price of alternatives down. And
    that's why this is a really interesting moment that we're going to see.
    It's changed a lot of thinking. The price of natural gas and the price
    of crude oil has absolutely made these competitive alternative sources
    of energy real. And the question is, do we have the technological
    breakthroughs to make it such that it can get to your gas tanks?

    [Mr. Arvizu made further remarks.]

        The President. Thank you, sir. Larry Burns, why don't you explain to folks what you do for a living.
        Lawrence D. Burns. Well, I'm
    responsible for research and development and strategic planning for
    General Motors. And I've been doing that, working for General Motors,
    for 37 years, actually.
        The President. Thirty-seven years?
        Mr. Burns. Yes. I started out in
    kindergarten.
        The President. Yes, I was going to say. [Laughter] You're obviously
    not in politics because your hair is not gray. [Laughter]
        You know, it's interesting--I bet you people don't know this--a lot
    of people don't know--there are 4.5 million automobiles on the road
    today that can either burn gasoline or ethanol--called flex-fuel
    vehicles. Isn't that interesting? And people don't know that. In other
    words, the technology is available.
        Pick it up from there. I'm trying to give you--[laughter].

    [Mr. Burns, vice president of research and development and strategic
    planning, General Motors, made brief remarks.]

        The President. Tell people what a flex-fuel vehicle is. What is it?
    Tell them what it is.
        Mr. Burns. What it is, it's a vehicle
    that can burn both gasoline and E-85 ethanol. As you explained, it's 85
    percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. So any mixture between gasoline
    and E-85, the vehicle can burn. And in fact, E-85 burns cleaner and
    yields higher horsepower than gasoline. It's renewable, and it can be
    homegrown. So we think it's an ideal fuel.
        The President. Does it cost much----
        Mr. Burns. Well, from a cost
    standpoint----
        The President. ----to make the engine----
        Mr. Burns. No, no, actually not. It's
    a pretty straightforward thing for us to do. The fuel injectors in your
    engine have to be changed, but this is one of the reasons

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    we can do it in high volume and give our customers the choice for----
        The President. In other words, this isn't something that's going to
    be real expensive to the consumer, if somebody wants a flex-fuel
    vehicle?
        Mr. Burns. No, not in terms of the
    vehicle.

    [Mr. Burns continued his remarks.]

        The President. Yes, just one quick point--sorry to interrupt. But
    people are sitting there saying, ``Well, okay, maybe you've manufactured
    the fuel from different sources, but do you have the automobiles to use
    it?'' And the point is, the technology is already advanced. I mean,
    they're out there, people on the road using it. So the question is, now,
    can we get the fuel manufactured close to where people are driving flex-
    fuel vehicles, or vice versa, so that we can get this technology
    expanded throughout the country? Go ahead.

    [Mr. Burns made further remarks.]

        The President. That's great. We're spending $1.2 billion over a 5-
    year period on--or 10-year period for hydrogen research. I would warn
    folks that I think the hybrid battery and the ethanol technologies will
    precede hydrogen. Hydrogen is a longer-term opportunity. It's going to
    take awhile for hydrogen automobiles to develop, plus the infrastructure
    necessary to make sure people can actually have convenience when it
    comes to filling up your car with hydrogen. But nevertheless, I'm
    pleased to hear that GM is like--joining the Federal Government on the
    leading edge of technological change.
        Mr. Burns. The important part about
    that battery, too, is it's a stepping stone to the fuel-cell vehicle.
    We'll imagine our fuel-cell vehicles will have some form of storing
    energy, because as your car slows down, you want to capture that energy
    and store it. So it's not like we're making one investment here that
    doesn't help another one. They all come together--the ethanol, the
    batteries, and the fuel cells are really one in the same roadmap to get
    to the future that offers a lot of alternatives for our Nation.
        The President. Great. Thanks for joining us.
        Mr. Burns. Thank you.
        The President. Patty Stulp.
        Patty Stulp. Hi. Good morning, Mr.
    President.
        The President. You've got an interesting business.
        Ms. Stulp. I do, thank you. I blend ethanol
    for gasoline refiner.
        The President. You blend ethanol for a gasoline refinery.
        Ms. Stulp. Would you like me to tell you
    about it?
        The President. I wish you would. [Laughter] Please don't ask me to
    tell you about it. [Laughter]
        Ms. Stulp. I've been involved in the ethanol
    industry for over 20 years. I grew up on a farm in Yuma County. I need
    to point out that Yuma County is the number one corn-producing county in
    the Nation most years. I'm a fourth generation----
        The President. Number one corn-producing county in the country.
        Ms. Stulp. It's in Colorado.
        The President. Really?
        Ms. Stulp. We grow a lot of corn, about----
        The President. That's not what they told me in Iowa, but that's all
    right. [Laughter] I believe you.

    [Ms. Stulp, president, Ethanol Management Co., made brief remarks.]

        The President. Well said. Our economy--a strong economy is one that
    needs a good farm economy. And the more markets there are for our
    farmers, the stronger the economy is going to be. And ethanol is just
    another market.
        Ms. Stulp. Mr. President, we really
    appreciate your support of this program.
        The President. Well, listen, it makes sense. Anybody who doesn't
    support it

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    doesn't quite understand the problems we face. But thanks. Good job.
    You're a pioneer yourself.
        Ms. Stulp. Thank you.
        The President. Colorado is famous for pioneers. [Laughter]
        Bill Frey, straight out of Delaware, is that
    right?
        William Frey. Straight out of Delaware, yes.
        The President. Welcome.
        Mr. Frey. Thank you.
        The President. Tell people what you do.

    [Mr. Frey, global business director, DuPont Biobased Materials, made
    brief remarks.]

        The President. Are you dedicating a lot of dollars to research and
    development? I know you are in general, but how about to alternative
    sources of energy?
        Mr. Frey. Absolutely. Absolutely. And we're
    doing it in two regards. Most of the discussion so far has been around
    the issue of fuels as an output. We do a lot of work in terms of using
    cellulose-based or using corn-based raw materials to make materials as
    well.

    [Mr. Frey continued his remarks.]

        The President. Good. Let's see what I can ask you here. [Laughter]
    What is your relationship--what is the nature of the relationship with
    NREL? When you say you work with NREL, tell people how the private
    sector and government entities interface.
        Mr. Frey. So everyone--people have mentioned
    biorefinery--I think probably everyone so far has mentioned
    biorefinery--and we're working very closely with NREL. NREL, of course,
    has had a number of years of being in the space looking at renewable
    energy, doing a lot of the foundation work that allows us to now look at
    how we're going to commercialize cellulosics. So we're doing a lot of
    work in the area of biorefinery with NREL, looking at how we can take a
    process which, today, has challenges associated with the economics of
    doing it, so it's an issue of economic. It's not a technology issue; the
    technology works. It's the economics of that technology. So we're
    spending a lot of time on trying to solve those problems.
        The President. Do you have people here from your company coming----
        Mr. Frey. Actually, there are people meeting
    today offsite, because of this particular event. [Laughter]
        The President. I said I was a pain. Look, I said it up front.
    [Laughter]

    [Mr. Frey made further remarks.]

        The President. Part of it's the process of converting the
    switchgrass to fuel, and part of it's to make sure the manufacturing
    process yields a cost-effective product. And that's a lot of what you're
    discussing, which is important.
        Mr. Frey. And it's important, I think, also,
    for a lot of the constituents to know that there isn't an either/or
    situation as it relates to the type of work that we're doing with
    cellulose. There's some confusion at times, as to is cellulosic going to
    take the place of corn-based ethanol, and of course, it's not going to
    at all.
        The President. The answer is, no. We have plenty of demand. I mean,
    there's going to be a lot of cars. We've only got 4.5 million cars--what
    are there, 220 million cars in America? And by the way, just to make
    sure everybody's expectations are set, our fleet is not going to change
    overnight. It takes awhile. When you get new technologies available for
    people to buy--hybrid vehicles or flex-fuel vehicles--it takes awhile to
    change a 220-million car fleet to a modern fleet.
        And so what we're talking about is an evolution, so people don't
    have the expectations that overnight, there's going to be millions of
    people driving hybrid vehicles or--we want them to be. It's just going
    to--from a practical perspective, it takes awhile. Thanks.

    [Mr. Frey made further remarks.]

    [[Page 307]]

        The President. I think the Nation--part of this deal today is to
    help develop national will. Most Americans understand the problems. And
    so good, thanks for joining. You did a fine job. Tell them back--hello
    there in Delaware.
        Mr. Frey. All right. I'm sure they're watching
    so----
        The President. They're watching. Well, give them a wave.
        Mr. Frey. Okay. [Laughter]
        The President. Lori Vaclavik.
        Lori Vaclavik. Vaclavik.
        The President. Vaclavik. It's a very--you're an interesting addition
    to the panel. Besides being a fine person, tell people what you do. I
    think people will find this interesting.

    [Ms. Vaclavik, executive director, Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver,
    made brief remarks.]

        The President. Great, thanks--well-spoken. If anybody in the Denver
    area wants to contribute to help somebody's life be better life, join
    Habitat for Humanity. I mean, it's--if you want to--the truth of the
    matter is, I was just thinking about--we're talking about power and
    power sources and everything; the true power of the country is the
    hearts and souls of citizens who volunteer to help change people's
    lives. So, thanks. Beautiful statement--using some technology to help
    somebody. But you're right; the great source of inspiration is the fact
    that we got a new homeowner. Yes, that's neat.
        Welcome. Dale, step forth. [Laughter]
        Dale Gardner. I'm here, sir.
        The President. Good. Reporting for duty. Are you gainfully employed?
        Mr. Gardner. I am. [Laughter] As long as
    you're kind to my boss, Mr. President. [Laughter]
        The President. As long as Congress quits earmarking, anyway.
        Mr. Gardner. Well, we could talk about that
    too. [Laughter] I am here at NREL, but I directly support the hydrogen
    program back at the Department of Energy.
        The President. Great.

    [Mr. Gardner, associate lab director for systems integration, National
    Renewable Energy Laboratory, made brief remarks.]

        The President. So, like if you got a 2-year-old child, when the
    person gets to be 12, maybe thinking about driving a car, all of a
    sudden, the technology becomes more real--pretty close. For a guy 59, 10
    years is a lot. [Laughter] If you're 2, it's not all that much.
    [Laughter] It's conceivable that a 2-year-old today could be taking a
    driver's test in a hydrogen-powered automobile.
        Keep going.
        Mr. Gardner. So here's what we're doing.
    The major technological challenges--I can boil them up into three areas.
    There are many, but here is a good way to think about it. The first is
    production of hydrogen. Hydrogen, even though it's the most common
    element in the universe, here on Earth, it's not found freely. It's
    bound up into these larger molecules, and therefore, it takes us energy
    and dollars to break it free. So that's the main thing.
        The President. One reason why we need to expand nuclear power is to
    be able to help manufacture ample quantities of hydrogen to help change
    the way we live.
        Mr. Gardner. That's exactly right. We can
    take that electricity from a nuclear powerplant, electrolyze water,
    which just means break the hydrogen free from the oxygen, and then have
    it for a fuel source. So production is one of our big goals. And the
    goal there, of course, is to make the cost of the hydrogen competitive
    with gasoline today; otherwise, you and I won't want to buy it at the
    filling station.
        The President. Correct.
        Mr. Gardner. The second area is storage.
    This is really an interesting one. Because hydrogen is the simplest
    element, it has the complexity that affects us in terms of using
    hydrogen in vehicles. We have to go

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    put hydrogen in a tank, just as we do gasoline. Well, because it's so
    light and its density is so low, it's really hard to pack enough of it
    into a tank that's not the size of your whole trunk, such that we can
    get 300 miles down the road. And for Larry to sell a car to one of us,
    we want to go at least 300 miles more, especially when you're driving in
    Texas--a long way between filling stations. [Laughter]
        The President. Yes. And we want more than one seat in the
    automobile. [Laughter]

    [Mr. Gardner made further remarks.]

        The President. So you've been looking at this for 3 years. Is this
    like science fiction, or are we talking about something that you think
    will come to fruition?
        Mr. Gardner. This is going to happen.
        The President. Pretty exciting, isn't it?
        Mr. Gardner. It's going to be out in the
    middle of the century. It's not going to be something that's going to
    happen in the next 15 or 20 years, but it's going to be the way our kids
    and our grandkids view the energy structure of our country. It's very
    exciting work.
        The President. In 1981, I don't think anybody ever thought there
    would be such a thing as e-mail. Matter of fact, we were still writing
    letters longhand, if I recall. Typewriters were kind of the--now it's
    computer. It's amazing what research and development can do to the way
    we live; pay phones to cell phones in 20 years. I think what we're
    hearing is change of lifestyle in incredibly important ways in the
    research that's taking place.
        You can't have--we live in an instant gratification world, so we got
    to be wise about how we make investments. Part of the strategy is
    intermediate term, part of the strategy is long term. And thanks for
    explaining an important long-term strategy. You did a fine job, kind of
    boiled it down, simplified it--point one, two, three. [Laughter]
        Mr. Gardner. I heard what you said today
    on----
        The President. That's good, yes. Thank you for joining us. Thanks
    for your work on that.
        Finally, Pat Vincent, the president
    and CEO of----
        Patricia K. Vincent. Public Service
    Company of Colorado.
        The President. Great. Thanks for joining us.
        Ms. Vincent. Thank you.
        The President. You have a vested interest in all this.

    [Ms. Vincent, president and chief executive officer, Public Service Co.
    of Colorado, made brief remarks.]

        The President. First let me--before you--what is the main source of
    your power today?
        Ms. Vincent. It's a mix between coal
    and natural gas.
        The President. Coal--right, right--50-50?
        Ms. Vincent. We have some nuclear in
    Minnesota, depends on the State. Here in Colorado, it's predominantly
    natural gas.
        The President. And what States do you cover?
        Ms. Vincent. We cover 10 States. We
    cover the panhandle of Texas.
        The President. Do you?
        Ms. Vincent. We do. Oklahoma----
        The President. People paying their bills down there? [Laughter]
        Ms. Vincent. They are; they are.
        The President. That's good. A fine part of the country, I want to
    you know. Well, you don't need to name them all, a 10-State area.
        Ms. Vincent. Yes, 10 States.
        The President. And you're based where?
        Ms. Vincent. I'm based here in
    Denver, and this is our largest utility company here--is in Colorado.
    And we have a wind source program that's been around since 1998.

    [Ms. Vincent continued her remarks.]

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        The President. So, like, when you analyze the wind turbine
    technology, is it advancing rapidly? Is there more advances being made--
    or am I getting you out of your lane here?
        Ms. Vincent. No, it's advancing
    rapidly. And what we're finding is like Dan talked about, the demand for
    solar--is that the demand for the turbines is starting to outstrip the
    supply. And a lot of it's going overseas. The production tax credit
    really helps us here because it kind of goes in boom and bust cycles, so
    that has really helped us levelize the demand and make them commercially
    feasible. And people like GE are making big strides in wind technology.
        The President. Good.
        Ms. Vincent. Second programs we have
    are with NREL, and we have two. And the first one is a wind to hydrogen
    program. And I don't know about your experience with wind, but it does
    blow intermittently here in Colorado and----
        The President. It does in Washington too. [Laughter]
        Ms. Vincent. I wasn't sure if it was
    all the time or just intermittently.
        The President. Lately, all the time. [Laughter]

    [Ms. Vincent made further remarks.]

        The President. By the way, this may interest you if you are--these
    people manufacturing photovoltaic products can't make enough. I mean,
    the demand for these things is huge. And there's just not enough
    capacity. The plant we were at yesterday is going to double in size.
    They're making neat roofing materials, by the way. I'm not their
    marketing guy--[laughter]--just happens to be on my mind. What's
    interesting about the discussion is the utility industry needs
    alternative sources of energy in order for them to be able to do their
    job. I think that's what you're saying.
        Ms. Vincent. Yes, and it's good for
    our customers. It's good for the communities; it's good for us----
        The President. Absolutely.
        Ms. Vincent. ----our shareholders.
        The President. It's good for your customers; it's good for you.
        Ms. Vincent. Yes.
        The President. And I know you feel that way. Managing peak
    electricity loads with alternative sources of energy makes a lot of
    sense.
        Ms. Vincent. Yes, it does.
        The President. Good. You did a fine job.
        Ms. Vincent. Thank you.
        The President. So that's why we're here, to talk about a variety of
    options to achieve a great national goal. And there's no doubt in my
    mind we're going to achieve it. And it's exciting. It's exciting times
    to be involved with all aspects of this strategy. And you heard some of
    our fellow citizens describe to you what they're doing to be a part of
    this giant effort to change the way we live, so that future generations
    of Americans will look back at this period and say, ``Thank goodness
    there was yet another generation of pioneers and entrepreneurs willing
    to think differently on behalf of the country.''
        Thanks for coming. God bless. Good job.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:19 a.m. at the National Renewable Energy
    Laboratory. In his remarks, he referred to Mayor Charles J. Baroch of
    Golden, CO; Colorado State Senator Andy McElhany; and Joe Stengel,
    minority leader, Colorado State House of Representatives. The Office of
    the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of these
    remarks.

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