U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Federal Energy Management Program

President Bush Highlights Advanced Transportation and Addresses High Fuel Costs

April 26, 2006

President Bush stands in the doorway of a fuel-cell-powered bus at the California Fuel Cell Partnership. Credit: Eric Draper, White House

President Bush visited the California Fuel Cell Partnership (CFCP) in West Sacramento on Earth Day, April 22nd, to highlight the promise of hydrogen fuel cells. Referring to the CFCP as "a really interesting collaborative effort between automakers and energy companies and fuel cell technology companies and state and federal agencies," President Bush noted that recent research has cut the cost of fuel cells in half. According to the President, "we're spending a lot of money at the federal level to encourage research and development, with the goal of getting away from oil." President Bush also discussed efforts to advance hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles, and ethanol fuels. See the President's Earth Day speech and the CFCP Web site.

President Bush returned to the subject of ethanol yesterday, when he provided the keynote speech for a forum of the Renewable Fuels Association. In a wide-ranging speech on energy issues, President Bush emphasized the role of his Advanced Energy Initiative in developing new ethanol technologies and discussed the promise of ethanol, biodiesel, and flex-fuel vehicles. "We owe it to the American people to be promoting alternative ways to drive their car so as to make us less dependent on foreign sources of oil," said President Bush. "We owe it to the American people to be aggressive in the use of technology so we can diversify away from the hydrocarbon society." The President also provided his four-point plan to confront high gasoline prices. See the President's speech and four-point plan on the White House Web site, and for tips on beating high gasoline prices, see the DOE Web site.